Titans edge Pats in rivalry match-up, start season with win

Matt Metcalf, Assistant Sports Editor
Posted 12/9/14

The Pilgrim and Toll Gate boys’ hockey teams combined for just four wins a season ago, but Friday marked a fresh start to a new season.

It was a good opportunity for each team to start the …

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Titans edge Pats in rivalry match-up, start season with win

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The Pilgrim and Toll Gate boys’ hockey teams combined for just four wins a season ago, but Friday marked a fresh start to a new season.

It was a good opportunity for each team to start the season with a win, as the two struggling programs drew each other for the season opener.

But after a back-and-forth, goal-infested match-up, Toll Gate ultimately prevailed, 7-5.

A high-scoring game was definitely on the radar going into Friday night, as both Pilgrim and Toll Gate started goaltenders who were making their first high school starts.

Pilgrim jumped out to an early lead, as Dean Russo broke free for a breakaway and beat Titans’ goalie Brendan Aunchman five-hole, giving the Pats a 1-0 lead just 55 seconds into the game.

After the early goal though, the Titans bounced back strong, as their top line comprised of Jack Sullivan, Sean Vittum and Kyle Palumbo answered with two goals of their own in the opening period.

The first came on a breakaway goal by Vittum after a nice pass from Palumbo, slipping a shot past MJ Rocheleau to tie the game, 1-1.

Sullivan then gave the Titans the lead at 8:33 of the first period. Pilgrim’s Nolan McCusker was called for tripping, giving the Titans their first power play of the season. Less than a minute into the man advantage, Vittum found a seam in the Pats’ penalty kill and made a nice pass to Sullivan at the right circle, who released a wrist shot that beat Rocheleau.

Coming into the game, Titans’ head coach Mike Champagne spoke highly of his first line, and they certainly didn’t disappoint, scoring four goals in the win.

Vittum led the way, notching a goal and three assists, while Palumbo scored a goal and added two assists and Sullivan netted two goals.

“They had a couple of power play goals and they played with confidence,” Champagne said. “They didn’t rush things in the cycle game and didn’t just throw the puck away. Kyle’s only a sophomore, but those are two kids (Vittum and Sullivan) who we’ve relied upon who are now juniors and seniors. They’re experiencing that big jump in confidence.”

Toll Gate extended its lead at 2:10 of the second period, as Connor Sullivan found Chris Williams all alone in front and beat Rocheleau point-blank to give the Titans a 3-1 lead. The goal came after another penalty assessed to McCusker, giving Toll Gate its second power play goal of the game.

Not willing to just give in, Pilgrim then fought back.

Patrick Reilly netted his first goal of the season just 11 seconds later.

At 6:22 Pilgrim found the equalizer, as Reilly fired a shot towards the cage and Russo was able to poke in the rebound, tying the game 3-3.

Russo and Reilly provided all of the offense for the Pats in the loss. Russo netted a hat-trick and Reilly compiled two goals and two assists.

That’s the kind of on-ice leadership that head coach Steve Henn is looking for out of his top offensive threats. However, Henn believes he needs contributions from other guys to have a successful season.

“They’re both good players and great guys to have around,” Henn said. “But they’re not our only source of offense. It has to be a collective thing. It has to be what can other guys do to contribute to help us win.”

With Aunchman was making his first start ever as a goalie, the Titans knew that they’d have to play solid hockey in front of him. After the Titans didn’t have a goalie tryout for their team, Aunchman stepped up to the task and decided to suit up in-between the pipes.

“(Aunchman) is a pretty good athlete, so some of that shows,” Champagne said. “The positioning and confidence grew as the game went on and as he handled the puck more and more. I think he did a good job. We came out with the win, so he did what he needed to do.”

The Titans provided some more support for Aunchman in the second period, as Connor Sullivan and Jack Sullivan each tallied a goal near the end of the period, giving Toll Gate a 5-3 lead.

However, Reilly scored his second goal of the game at 9:26 of the frame to cut Pilgrim’s deficit to 5-4 at intermission.

With two periods under their belts, Aunchman and Rocheleau came out of the locker room making some big saves in the third period.

It wasn’t until over nine minutes into the third period that Toll Gate was able to add some insurance.

Palumbo scored his first goal of the season on an assist from Vittum, before Stephen Octeau scored a power-play goal on a shot from the point just a minute and a half later, giving Toll Gate a 7-4 lead.

Russo added his hat-trick goal in the final seconds to cut Pilgrim’s deficit to 7-5, but it was too late for the Pats.

Henn insisted that he needs a better effort from his team moving forward.

“We need to out-work teams,” Henn said. “Anyone can overcome anything, but you need to have the right mentality. We worked hard, but we didn’t really battle today. I can’t ask for anymore than what we have, but we have a lot more to offer than what we did today.”

Despite giving up seven goals, Rocheleau turned aside 23 shots for the Patriots and made a lot of big saves from in-close.

“MJ was awesome,” Henn said. “It seemed like he was making the first and second saves. You can’t expect him to make the third and the fourth. He has to have a little help and that’s a tactical thing that we need to address.

On the other hand, Champagne was happy with the way his team came out in the season opener.

“We came out and played the game that we wanted to play,” Champagne said. “It was (Aunchman’s) second week in pads, so we knew that we needed to be good in front of him. I think our team really battled for him.”

Unfortunately for both teams, they each suffered a loss on Saturday night. Pilgrim fell to 0-2 with a 6-1 loss to Portsmouth, while Toll Gate dropped to 1-1 with an 8-2 loss to East Providence.

Pilgrim will return to action on Friday, when they host South Kingstown at 8 p.m. at Thayer Arena.

The Titans will take on South Kingstown on Saturday at 7 p.m. at URI’s Brad Boss Arena.

“We’re going to improve,” Henn said. “It’s all about growing.”

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