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Bellomo’s OT tally gives Salem thrilling win over rival Windham

Saturday, January, 16 By David Willis
Staff writer

SALEM — With the game on the line, Salem’s Marcus Bellomo waited for his moment, then struck.

“I was sitting outside the scrum in front of the net, waiting for the puck to poke out,” said Bellomo. “When it happened, I went for it and put it in. I knew it was going in, and it felt so great.”

Stationed just outside of the crease, Bellomo picked up a loose puck and fired it into the net 2:28 into overtime, giving Salem a hard-fought, season-opening 4-3 victory over archrival Windham on Saturday night at the Salem ICenter.
“It feels great to get this win and build this kind of momentum,” said Bellomo, who scored four goals last winter as a freshman. “It was a long wait. We wanted to pick up where we left of last season, and getting a first win is big. It felt good to help the team do that.”
The Blue Devils — who like the rest of New Hampshire lost the first month of the season due to the COVID-19 delay — were able to recover in overtime after Windham scored two third period goals to tie the game.
“This feels great!” said senior Ryan Allard. “To get the first win of the season, against Windham, our biggest rival, is great. We had to adjust to the long delay, and we just had to take care of business. We had a lot of confidence, and we were ready for this game.”
It was Allard and Bellomo that sparked a fast start for Salem.
Allard struck for Salem’s first goal of the season 7:43 into the game. He took a pass from Bellomo in the right faceoff circle and buried a wrist shot over the goalie’s glove.
Windham responded with a Zach Jordan power play goal, but Allard and Bellomo struck again.
With 1:37 left in the first, Allard planted himself in the crease, hauled in a rebounds from Bellomo shot and back-handed it through the goalie’s legs and into the net.
“It really felt great to score the first goals of the season,” said Allard, who scored six goals last season. “On the first one, (Bellomo) sent me a good pass, and I put it in. On the second, I saw the rebound come and I just had to put it in.”
After Salem killed two consecutive penalties, covering seven minutes, the Blue Devils added to their advantage when defending Eagle-Tribune Player of the Year Ryan Pappalardo redirected a goal home with 2:05 left in the second.
But with Salem seemingly in command, Windham struck back in the third.
With 10:51 left in regulation, Jaguar Charlie Breen scored a power play goal to cut the lead to one goal. Then, with 4:17 remaining, Aiden Quaglietta scored the game-tying goal. A few big saves by Vito Mancini sent the game to overtime.
“We have a young team this year, and I think we had a lot of jitters early,” said Windham captain Breen. “It wasn’t our best game early. I think we needed to get our confidence up and head in the game. As the game went on we got our confidence up and were able to put a few pucks in the net.”
But Salem, which struggled with penalties throughout, came out firing in overtime, and Bellomo closed out the victory with his OT tally.
“The goal felt great,” said Bellomo. “It was a great way to start the season. It was tough to wait to get on the ice. There was a roadblock for a while, but we just wanted to focus hard and get that first win of the season.