The Bay State Bobcats went to Danbury, CT to face off against the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks on Sunday, and came away with a 3-2 win to move to 3-1-0 on the season and secure 1st place in the NA3HL East Division.
Bay State 3 @ Danbury 2 – Troy Harwell notched his second goal of the game just past the midway mark of the third period to give the Bobcats their second and final lead of the night, as they edged out the Jr. Hat Tricks 3-2. Danbury actually got on the board first in this one as Dylan Webber lit the lamp, but Bay State goals by Harwell and John Kosa before the end of the first period gave the Bobcats the advantage after 20 minutes. Kyle Madigan then leveled things up with a second-period strike to make it a 2-2 game heading into the third, where Harwell’s heroics sealed the victory. Nathan Moffitt earned the win between the pipes for Bay State, stopping 37 of 39 pucks that came his way and outdueling Trey Hirschfield of Danbury, who turned aside 20 of 23 shots.
“It was a battle all game long. Coach Cunningham always has his teams ready to play, he’s a good coach who has a good team in Danbury,” Head Coach Anthony Langevin was quoted saying.
“I thought we played well the 1st period. We had quality scoring chances and honestly could have scored 4 or 5 goals right away. We worked on scoring last week in practice. We didn’t have scoring last year, like we do this year. We have the ability to score a lot of goals. We need to work on finishing. Nonetheless, Troy Harwell and John Kosa scored big goals for us when we needed it.”
“We got away from playing our game of hockey in the 2nd period and our compete level lacked, as well. Nathan Moffitt stood tall in net and Gordon Ogden played very well defensively for us. In the 3rd period, we brought more of a compete level. We were able to jump to a 3-2 lead with 7 minutes left with another goal from Harwell. For the final 7 minutes, I was proud of the way the guys bought in to win the game for Moffitt. No matter who was on the ice or on the bench, we bought in as a group and I couldn’t be more proud of that. Moffitt played another great game, and we deserved to win the game for him.”
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the pesky Bobcats. The team is back in action on Friday night at home against the Northeast Generals and Saturday night on the road in Danbury, CT, again, against the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks.
