CANTLON: PREP SCHOOL HOCKEY – (SAT) BEARCATS OVERPOWER RHINOS, 4-1 

Bearcats Overpower Rhinos 4-1

BY; Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

WATERTOWN, CT – The Hotchkiss Bearcats (Lakeville, CT) continue their present surge winning their sixth-in-a-row. 4-1, over the Taft Rhinos on the road at the Oden Arena in a late-season prep school matchup Saturday afternoon clash.

The Bearcats received a strong performance from senior forward, Gavin Puskar (Westfield, NJ) as he contributed two goals while senior captain and goalie, the Boston College-bound, Henry Wilder (Needham, MA), was strong in the net when called upon.

The Bearcats first goal was a beauty. Taft goalie, James Donaldson (Beaconsfield, Quebec), had no chance on.

With a strong transition play coming up ice from their all junior line, Declan Conway (Long Beach, NY) fed center, Jeremy Abraham (Naples, FL), who found the third member of their line, Jonathan Horns streaking down the left-wing.

Abraham slid the pass over and Horn ripped his seventh of the season off the far post at 3:45 for a 1-0 lead.

Taft’s senior right-winger Nikita Kovalev (Greenwich, CT) tried to even things up, but Wilder stopped him at 5:57. Zack Tonelli (Armonk, NY) was also denied shortly thereafter on a short-side bid. Zach Hahn (Huntington, NY) also tried to get it past Wilder, but couldn’t.

Tonelli got another quality chance on a setup from Wesley Carbone (St. Louis, MO) at 7:23, but Wilder slid over to make the stop.

Hotchkiss tried to extend their lead as Horn put a pass on the tape of sophomore, Nate Brockington (St. Catharines, Ontario), but Donaldson made the blocker save.

The Bearcats finally made it 2-0 when Karsen Dorwart (Sherwood, OR) scored his tenth goal off the left side putting his shot between Donaldson’s left arm and body at 13:59.

Before the period expired Hotchkiss made it 3-0 with an amazing shot.

Puskar was at the top of the right-wing faceoff circle. He took a pass from junior, Bodie Molnar (Potsdam, NY). As Puskar received the pass, he lost his edge, but as he was falling backward, he let a shot go that found it’s way over Donaldson’s left shoulder and just under the crossbar and popped the water bottle.

For Puskar, it was a high-end skill shot that put the Bearcats in a commanding position with 6.1 seconds left in the first frame. It was also his team-leading thirteenth goal of the season.

Numerous whistles for off-sides and icings made for a choppy start to the second period before Taft tallied and got the goal horn to sound.

Nick Cullnan (Ridgefield), was on the left-wing and went low to the stick-side on Wilder and found the back of the net at 7:34.

That would be all the offense Taft would muster for the rest of the game.

Puskar was stopped, and so was Charlie Kerrigan (Stowe, VT). Jonathan Horn was peppering Donaldson, but he kept Hotchkiss from running away with the game.

Off a faceoff from the right point, Jack Ferguson (Darien) was stopped, as was Declan Conway on a right-wing drive. Nick Traggio (Sharon) had a right-point drive that Donaldson again kept the Bearcats from scoring.

Early in the third, Puskar tallied his second goal from a set up at 2:11, ending any hopes of a Taft comeback with a solid 4-1 lead that they would maintain until the end of the game.

Hotchkiss spent a large portion of the rest of the third period mostly in the Taft end of the ice. Dorwat attempted a goal-line jam attempt, Puskar, seeking the hat trick, had Taft’s only shot for the first 12:25 of the period. He came on a dump-in to the net for a line change.

The Rhinos finally got some offensive zone time with Bobby Barrasso (Mountain Lakes, NJ) and Wesley Carbone denied by Wilder late in the game.

Taft senior, Henry Molson (Westmount, QC) denied an empty-net goal attempt by Hotchkiss with great hand-eye coordination as he batted a flip shot out of the air.

Hotchkiss’ record improves to 15-4-1. Their game at home against Loomis Chaffe (Windsor) on Monday, one of their last five games of the regular season. The Bearcats are seeking to qualify for the NEPSAC playoffs that start the first week of March.

Taft’s record drops to 7-15-1. They will host Deerfield Academy on Wednesday in one of their last four games of the season.

Taft travels to Hotchkiss on February 29th to close out the regular season.

Avon Old Farms (19-2-0) and Salisbury Prep (18-2-1) are qualified for the NEPSAC Large Division and Open Division playoffs while Hotchkiss is making a run to qualify.

The NEPSAC semifinals and finals are played on the first weekend of March at Sullivan Arena at St. Anselm College in Manchester, NH.