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Londonderry's Thompson nets first-period hat trick, but Astros rally for tie

Thursday, February, 07 By Peter A. Martin
Staff writer

HOOKSETT, N.H. | Londonderry's Tommy Thompson scored his second hat trick of the season ... in the first period! ... but the Lancers were unable add any more offense and settled for a 3-3 tie with Pinkerton.

"Tommy's an exceptional player," said Londonderry coach Ken Kuzyk. "Every game he keeps getting better and better, and I think collectively as a team we are getting better and better. He's very comfortable with his teammates and that makes all the difference in the world."

It was the Astros who struck first, on the power play, after Scott Morrison took and 5-minute major and a game misconduct for hitting from behind in the third minute of the game.

Just 12 seconds into the man-advantage, Jason Carace slammed home a rebound in front of the net to score his 10th goal of the year.

The Lancers, who, according to Pinkerton coach Casey Kesselring had lost 10 straight to the Astros, answered right back.

Less than a minute later, Thompson scored his first, a shorthanded goal, on a breakaway that started at his own blue line. He faked to his forehand to move Astros net minder J.J. Solloway out of the net before pulling the puck to his backhand and burying home a goal.

The Astros scored again on the same 5-minute power play, a tally from Jeremy Lavoie at the 9-minute mark of the period, but the remainder of the period was all Thompson. He added an even-strength goal with six minutes remaining in the period to tie the score, again on a breakaway. Then he scored for a third time, this time at 5-on-5, when he slapped a rebound out of the air and into the net.

"It was pretty exciting," said Thompson, a sophomore. "I had a pretty good first period."

The second period was back and forth with neither team commanding play thanks to renewed focus from the Astros, and two consecutive Lancer penalties.

"No team can be shorthanded for as long as we were and expect different results," said Kuzyk.

"After the first period, I came out into the hallway to focus," said Solloway, who handled the final 20 shots flawlessly in the final two periods and overtime. "That's my style, if I get scored on I just pretend the score is 0-0. You have to forget about it, pretend it never happened."

That focus paid off when, late in the second, Alex Campbell received a perfect pass at the front of the net from Bobby Meskell and cooly slid it home to tie the score at three and complete the Pinkerton comeback.

"We stayed together and didn't try to do too much, said Kesselring. "Obviously, that was a big goal by Campbell at the end of the second, because the quicker you tie it the better."

Both the third and overtime periods were wide open, much to the delight of the standing-room-only crowd. But neither team was able to put the puck into the net thanks to some outstanding play from both Solloway (23 saves) and Londonderry goalie Joel Willbrant (29 saves).

The win gives the Lancers 6.5 points in Division I and moves them ever closer to the tournament, something that has eluded them in past three seasons. The last two years they've totalled just five victories.

"Our goal at the beginning of the season was to qualify for the playoffs," said Kuzyk. "Wins have been few and far between in our program in its history so its going to be a challenge. We have gotten better and better as the year has gone on and I think we are starting to believe."