CANTON, Mass. - Sophomore Liam Lynch scored a hat trick, including the game winner just 1:06 into overtime as #21 Foxboro upset #12 Blue Hills on Tuesday night.
The Warriors trailed 2-1 entering the final period and the message between the second and the third period was pretty clear: Foxboro couldn't keep playing the way they did through the first two periods.
The Warriors continued to get caught up in the physicality of the game and often got caught by the referees for retaliation, putting them in shorthanded situations. Foxboro had nine penalties through two periods.
"We were running around a lot and we were caught up in the physical play instead of playing the puck and playing our game of hockey," said Foxboro head coach Jim Genovese. "We weren't getting pucks to the net and we weren't generating traffic to the net."
That changed in the third period as after Foxboro killed off a penalty to start, stayed discipline for nearly the entire period and rallied from a 2-1 deficit to take a 3-2 lead.
"The biggest message was we had to stay out of the nonsense stuff going on and just play our game," Genovese added. "When we play our game, we're fine. When we start running around trying to get that big hit, that's when we're totally out of our game plan."
Both Lynch and captain Kyle Sperzel were two of the more frequent visitors in the first two periods to the sin bin - three penalties a piece - but Sperzel played an incredibly strong third period, finishing off clean hits and leading by example and it rubbed off on Lynch.
Foxboro went on the power play with 11:31 to go in the third period and were able to cash in just 30 seconds into it. Sperzel battled down low before Lynch was able to control the puck and on his wrap around bid, Lynch tossed it in front of goal and it deflected off a Blue Hills defender and into the net. Foxboro went back on the man-advantage less than four minutes later but were unable to score. However, less than a minute after that penalty expired, Blue Hills went back to the box for a slash.
Lynch gave Foxboro a brief lead with a low shot through traffic that was able to sneak in, making it 3-2 with 4:55 left. The Warriors first penalty of the period cost them as Jacob Graham's shot from the point created a big rebound and Justin Freedman tied the game 3-3 with 3:37 left.
Without a trip to the locker room between the third period and overtime, Genovese said his message was simple, "Let's get this over early boys."
His team responded well and after Sperzel won a faceoff in the attacking zone right back to Lynch, the sophomore rifled one past Blue Hills goalie Andy Slack for the game winner.
"Sperzel just looked back at me so I just got behind him right there and he just put it back to me and I shot it far side," Lynch said. "It happened to go in so it was nice, I was excited for the team.
Asked whether he felt the most confident in that shot compared to his other goals - a deflection and low shot from the point - Lynch said he was.
"I was thinking goal the whole time," he said with a big smile.
Blue Hills was able light the lamp first just 4:29 into the game. After they won a faceoff in the offensive zone straight back to defenseman Korey Moore, the senior tee'd it up and blasted a rocket through traffic that beat Foxboro goalie Jon Cronin high. The teams then went on to combine for ten penalties, including match matching unsportsmanlike penalties in a chippy first half.
It looked as tough Kyle Moore made it 2-0 for Blue Hills after he put him his own deflection shot that was originally saved. But as four players celebrated the goal, two tried to get off the ice. The refs caught on and disallowed the goal and instead Foxboro went on the man advantage for too many men on the ice. The Warriors then turned up their offensive pressure as Sperzel raced up the length of the ice, weaving through the defense but his wrist shot whistled wide.
Foxboro kept the pressure up and just 10 seconds later, Mike Carresi found himself in front and quickly turned and fired, but Slack somehow got the stick on it. But the Warriors were able to break through just as their power play expired. Carresi gathered the puck down low and went cross ice and Jason Galanti buried to tie it 1-1 with just 1:07 left in the first period.
Foxboro was caught flat footed just seconds later as they turned it over in the offensive zone and Blue Hills senior Jacob Graham controlled the puck from his own blue line, flew up the ice, weaved to his right and away from the defenseman and fired a wrist shot into the back of the net to make it 2-1 Blue Hills with 44 seconds left in the period, a lead they would take into intermission. Foxboro was outshot 18-6 in the first period.
The second period was a much more even period - and defensive. The teams combined for just 10 shots on goal - five apiece. Blue Hills nearly made it 3-1 just 4:26 into the middle period when a scrum in front turned into a backhander from Justin Freedman but Cronin was somehow able to make a strong kick save. An interference call put Foxboro on the penalty kill but sophomore Liam Lynch nearly leveled the game. Lynch played a give and go perfectly near his own net, took possession of the puck and raced up ice. He dragged the puck to his right and fired a wrist shot but Slack was able to make the high save.
Foxboro has now extended their win streak to five games in a row and will now take on #5 Hanover, who finished the season 13-7. A date and time was not announced by the MIAA as of Tuesday night.
Ryan Lanigan can be contacted at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @R_Lanigan.