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White's late-game heroics lift Triton over Sachems

Monday, January, 14 By Evan Mugford
Correspondent

Two third-period goals lifted the Triton hockey team to a 4-2 victory over Pentucket Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Rink.

A boisterous and faithful crowd came to watch the Cape Ann League rivals square off. Both teams entered with the goal of redeeming disappointing losses to Wilmington last week (the Vikings lost to Wilmington last Saturday; the Sachems fell to the league-leading Wildcats last Thursday), and neither team was ready to concede to the other.

Triton forward Craig White ignited his team. The Vikings junior netted a goal and two assists.

With 1:07 left in the first period, White found the back of the net thanks to senior forward Paul Bishop's assist. But as quickly as White surged the Vikings ahead, in a matter of 11 seconds, the Sachems knotted the score up with an Alex Connolly goal off of an Andrew Barba helper.

Then at 12:18 in the second frame, crafty passing by Barba and captain Adam Roberts produced a Pentucket goal by fellow captain and brother Alex Roberts, giving the underdog Sachems their first lead and a boost in energy as they maintained puck control for much of the second period, narrowly missing on a couple shots.

Those missed opportunities were all the Vikings (6-2-2) needed when at 3:36 complimentary passing by Brandon Middleton and Brian Cosgrove shaped a goal by tenacious defenseman Chris LeSage, tying the score once again at 2-2. As the third period play began, so did Triton's teamwork and the inspired play of White, helping the Vikings manufacture two more goals. The first was at 11:13 on a wrist shot by a hustling Middleton, and the second, game-sealing goal was at 2:27 off a Sean Lawless assist to streaking forward Cam Robinson.

"It's a huge win for the team, the kids played hard, they showed a lot in the third period," Triton coach Kevin Dodier said. "We had five days of practice before this game, and to get them moving forward off our last loss, the biggest thing was to come up here, get a hard fought win and carry it over to North Reading."

Dodier couldn't give enough credit to his junior forward. "Craig (White) was huge for us," Dodier said. "He played 30 minutes and just did it all."

White, a Byfield native, was equally pleased with his team's win and gave merit to his strenuous offseason conditioning of playing lacrosse and lifting, his lasting love for the sport (he's been playing since he was 6 years old), a steady dose of pregame music from his iPod, and of course his teammates.

"They were great, this was a big win," White said. "After the Wilmington loss, we all felt we had to prove our worth." When asked about his upcoming game against North Reading, White made clear that another tie | the teams played to a 1-1 draw in the season opener Dec. 12 | is not what he or the team was looking for.

"It was a good game, but this time we're home, and we're eager to make amends," White said.