Squirts: Gateway Gladiator Squirts faced Norwood on Saturday for the last of the three-game series of the Yankee Conference playoffs. In the first period, Ty David Ribeiro put the points on the board with two goals, one unassisted and the other assisted by Brayden Hathon and Thomas Clavell.
In the second, Ribeiro added three more goals for Gateway with assists by Brady Kidney, Jacob Hebbel, Benjamin Hebbel, Matthew Paling, and Clavell. Norwood was able to squeeze one by Goalie Thomas Leger who was making key saves this game.
In the third, Lucy Murphy and Lucas DeMoranville put the pressure on Norwood and Ribeiro came through to score one more assisted by Hathon and Kidney giving Gateway the win 6-1. Next stop, the Championship Game!
Pee Wees: The Gladiator Pee Wees knew that Sunday’s game was a must-win, and they came out strong against Walpole Express Black who they had not been able to beat during the regular season. Winning this game would put them in the Championship, so the Gladiators played this game as though it was the championship. Stephen Old put Gateway on the board first with a defensive rush. Walpole evened it up at one each in the second, but Gateway’s Ben Demoranville scored two more to put Gateway up by two. Walpole hit back with two more of their own to tie the game at three. Gateway took back the lead in the third with a goal by RJ Vickery and fought through the final minutes when Walpole pulled their goalie for the extra skater. The final buzzer sounded to cheers, and the Gladiators move forward to the Championship Game after the 4-3 win.
Middle School: The Middle School Jr. Vikings had a tough weekend after some time off, losing two games to Taunton. In the first game, Taunton took it to the Jr. Vikings and just outplayed them on every aspect. The Jr. Vikings went down early in the first period and just couldn’t get any momentum going. They did manage to tie the game up early in the second period when Quirino doCanto put home a goal assisted by Tyler Lovendale and Bethany Davis. That would be the closest they would get as Taunton peppered goaltender Alex DeMarco with shots, beating him twice again in the second. Robert Ramsay added a goal early in the third, assisted by Lovendale and doCanto, but Taunton added two more, making the final score 6-2. DeMarco played great in net, keeping the Jr. Vikings in the game as well as he could.
In the second game against Taunton, the Jr. Vikings played a little better but still came away with a tough luck, 3-2 loss. The Jr. Vikings actually jumped out to an early lead when Robert Ramsay stuffed home an unassisted goal. Taunton would tie it one minute later and the first period ended that way. Taunton struck first in the second period, but with a little over a minute left in the second period, the dynamic duo of Tyler Lovendale and Quirino doCanto struck again with some great passing, and Lovendale put home the goal. The game-winning goal came down to a penalty shot due to a Jr. Vikings player covering the puck in their own crease. Alex DeMarco made a valiant effort on the shot, but couldn’t quite make the save, not taking away from his brilliant day in net though. Jake DeMoranville also had a great day in net, saving all but two shots on him.