TAUNTON, Mass. - It was a physical, gritty, hard-fought game between the Taunton Tigers and the Attleboro Blue Bombardiers as the two teams returned to action after a four-day holiday break. Tyler Pietrzyk scored a hat trick and Cam Pitts made 21 saves in Taunton’s 5-2 win over Attleboro.
Pietrzyk’s first goal gave Taunton a 3-1 lead with 10:56 on the clock in the second period. It came painfully for the junior captain, as Nick Croft’s wrist shot from the left point hit Pietrzyk’s body in front and fell to his stick for the easy tally.
With Attleboro within striking distance at 3-2 in the third period, Pietrzyk dug the puck out of a scrum in the right corner, carried it to the crease, and beat Blue Bombardier goalie Tim Gile five-hole. Pietrzyk added an empty netter late in the third to seal a 5-2 win for the Tigers.
“He’s doing well,” Taunton head coach Kris Metea said of Pietrzyk. “He’s worked hard in the offseason and he’s really taken on a leadership role. He really wants what's best for the team and the program and you can see that when he takes every shift.”
Pietrzyk assisted on Taunton’s first goal late in the first period. He won the faceoff back to Croft who was set up at the top of the left-wing circle, and he fired it past Gile. Zack Albert scored his third goal in the past two games as his shot from behind the goal line snuck through Gile to give Taunton a 2-1 lead early in the second.
Attleboro's Domenic Bartnikowski tied the game 1-1 in the first period as he took a giveaway at the blue line and beat Pitts on a shorthanded breakaway. Luke Chomyszak cut the Tiger lead to 3-2 in the second period with a shot from the top of the left wing circle that deflected off the glove of Pitts and in. Bartnikowski and Keagin Larkin assisted on Chomyszak’s goal. Both Attleboro goals came with under a minute left in each period.
“Those are inexcusable,” Metea said. “At the end of a period, you can’t let that happen. You still have to keep in mind, the kids might be second or third year varsity players but they’re still sophomores and freshman for the most part with a few juniors. Mistakes like that are going to happen, especially with sophomores making those mistakes. It’s something we have to grit and bear but we have to learn from.”
Cam Carnes, Jordan Hoey, Matt Grover, and David Perry also recorded assists for Taunton in the win. The Tigers held a slight advantage in shots on goal, 25-23, but the difference for Taunton was in net. Cam Pitts came into the game with two shutouts on the season, one against Greater New Bedford Voke and one againstNew Bedford, and he continued that success on Saturday with a 21-save performance.
“He made the saves he needed to,” Metea said. “There was one of them that he definitely wanted back. He could have even had that breakaway if he wanted to. He had the shutout streak but he also was more challenged by the opponent today as opposed to before. He’s right there, he’s doing well. As long as he makes the saves he need to, we’re going to be in games.”
The physical nature of the game led to 15 penalties called, and Attleboro’s constant disadvantage made a comeback impossible.
“Definitely too many turnovers,” Attleboro head coach Mike Cripps said. “We had trouble breaking the puck out of our own end, which is something we’ve been working on. We did bounce back there for a while, and I thought we just ran out of gas in the third period with the physicality of the game and our short bench. The game kind of wore us down.”
Taunton improved to 2-0-1 with the win and will take on cross-city rival Coyle & Cassidy on Tuesday night. Attleboro, now 1-4-1, will travel to face East Bridgewater on Wednesday night. The two teams will meet again in a league game on Saturday, January 17 at 2 PM at Aleixo Arena.