WOBURN – Jack Rakauskas and the Hingham boys hockey team couldn’t let Arlington have all the glory within a wild Sunday afternoon at O’Brien Rink.
After watching the Spy Ponders need overtime to edge Belmont and effectively punch their ticket to the Doherty division final in the Ed Burns Coffee Pot Tournament, Rakauskas’ goal in double-overtime propelled the Harbormen (10-1-4) to their own 2-1 win over Reading – adding suspense to the doubleheader. His breakaway tally to win it paired with Luke McLellan’s 27 saves in net to stave off a charged Rockets (9-3-1) attack throughout, all while the group’s stamina seemingly outlasted Reading despite playing Pope Francis the day before.
“We didn’t want to go to overtime, believe me,” said Hingham head coach Tony Messina. “We were asleep first five minutes of the game, I think we didn’t get off the bus yet. But we turned it around after that. Pretty happy with the effort.”
Stellar defensive play kept both groups off the board most of the game, highlighted by impressive work between the pipes from McLellan and Reading goalie Chris Hanifan (27 saves). Hingham finally broke through when Travis Rugg finished off a second rebound attempt with 1:11 left in the second period, and quite a few saves from the tips of McLellan’s toes kept it that way for a sure shutout.
Reading’s Cam Fahey made sure it wasn’t, though, carrying the puck past two defenders before scoring the 1-1 neutralizer with 2:29 left in regulation. The last man he beat was actually Rakauskas, who dealt with some problems with his skates throughout.
Those problems didn’t show in double-overtime, as he took a pass from Billy Jacobus at his own blue line after Reading hit the post on a near game-winner. He outskated the two Rockets on his back for a breakaway, finishing the game by lifting the puck to the top-left shelf.
“I could hear the two guys behind me, but I just kept going,” Rakauskas said. “It was the first 3-on-3 in my life, it was just a great moment. I just didn’t want to get caught, that’s all I was thinking.”
Perhaps the only game-winner that could top it came just a couple hours before.
As part of another thrilling episode within their Middlesex League rivalry with Belmont, Arlington rallied twice before Killian Wright’s goal with 19 seconds left in overtime delivered a 3-2 win. It was his second score of the game, adding to his game-tying tally with just under five minutes left in the second period.
Head coach John Messuri hasn’t felt his group played all that well as of late despite a six-game win streak, but was more than pleased with how the team pulled off this one.
“These two teams have played so many good games the last three or four years, they’re so well-coached it’s hard to ever get a lead on them,” he said. “That was the best structure we’ve played with all year. … We’ve been winning, (but) we haven’t been playing good. I thought we played pretty good tonight.”
Belmont has a knack for keeping teams off the board and capitalizing on opposing mistakes. The first period saw a touch of that, jumping out to a 1-0 lead when Shay Donahue scored from wide-open space in the slot as Arlington goalie Jake Davies (22 saves) slowly recovered from a diving bid to clear the puck. The Spy Ponders answered with a Jake Russell goal two minutes later, but trailed again when Peter Grace’s shot from the point deflected off Donahue’s body into the net for his second goal.
That’s all Arlington would let up the rest of the way, though, mostly limiting Cam Fici (two assists). Wright tied the game despite another solid effort in net from Greg Federico (17 saves) on a breakaway, and both groups played sound hockey for a scoreless third period.
A patient approach paced Arlington in overtime to avoid any gaps Belmont could jump on, and an excellent feed to the slot from Stephanos Sotiropoulos set up Wright for the back-handed winner.
“I was so excited, I don’t know, the adrenaline was rushing through my body,” Wright said. “That’s huge for us. We’re trying to find our way this year. This definitely is going to help.”
