Titans, Oakers set for decisive Game 3

By Matt Metcalf
Posted 3/7/17

Toll Gate dominated play in Game 1 of its Division II quarterfinal series with Coventry on Friday night, but the Oakers would battle back and defend its home ice in Game 2 on Saturday to force a decisive third game. The

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Titans, Oakers set for decisive Game 3

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Toll Gate dominated play in Game 1 of its Division II quarterfinal series with Coventry on Friday night, but the Oakers would battle back and defend its home ice in Game 2 on Saturday to force a decisive third game.

The Titans and Oakers were set for the finale of their best-of-three series on Monday evening, but results were unavailable at press time. The winner will advance to take on top-seeded Rogers/Middletown/Rocky Hill Co-op in the semifinals this weekend.

Toll Gate got out to an ideal start out of the gate in Game 1.

At 4:28 of the opening period, Noah Kane finished off a high-pressured offensive shift when he corralled the puck in the slot before turning and firing a shot by Coventry goaltender Thomas Julian to make it 1-0.

Less than four minutes later, the puck was behind Julian again after Connor Sullivan finished off a nice feed from Will Fox to make it 2-0.

“Those first 30 [minutes] were exactly what we were looking for,” Toll Gate head coach Mike Champagne said. “Good possession, defense making good decisions on the pinch, great backcheck, everything you want.”

Toll Gate took that 2-0 lead into the second period. In terms of possession, the second 15 minutes were Toll Gate’s best. It couldn’t capitalize on its opportunities, but it was able to smother Coventry with chances and possession and, more importantly, the Titans didn’t surrender any quality chances at the defensive end.

Julian fought off chance after chance in that period as Coventry had to exert all of its energy to get the puck out of its defensive zone.

“I thought we were great, I really did,” Champagne said of the second-period effort. “We had possession, we were getting good shots that weren’t getting blocked and we weren’t forcing things. That’s tough when you’re not scoring goals because then you get outside of what you want to do and try to be too perfect. They didn’t do it. Give Julian credit. He was great.”

Toll Gate led by the same margin, 2-0, heading into the second intermission.

Coventry didn’t have much going until Eli Benjamin used a Toll Gate defenseman as a screen and ripped a shot high blocker for a power play goal at 6:22 of the third to make it a 2-1 game.

After that, however, Austin Sequeira stifled Coventry down the stretch, and D.J. Kowalik added an empty-netter in the final minute to give the Titans a 1-0 series lead.

But, Champagne was expecting a battle in Game 2, and that’s exactly what his team got.

“They’re going to come out even harder,” Champagne said of Coventry before Game 2. “They’ll be playing for their lives and they’re a good hockey team. We’ve seen it over the years, they just don’t go away.”

The Oakers went on to hold off the Titans, 4-2, at the West Warwick Civic Center on Saturday despite goals from Kowalik and Jack Dean, tying the series at a game apiece.

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