DEDHAM, Mass. — It's rare for there to be firsts in an event held for 59 years. But there was a big first on Sunday.
Phillips Andover won the Flood-Marr Tournament for the first time in program history, taking down Nobles, 6-4, in an instant classic.
With the game tied, 4-4, and just over two minutes remaining on the clock, Andover junior forward David O'Neill got the puck after a Nobles defender fell and turned it over. O'Neill got a 2-on-1 and had his first shot stopped by Nobles sophomore goalie Tucker Monroe (Wellesley, Mass.), but he followed the play and knocked in the rebound, giving Andover a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
An empty-net goal by Andover senior forward Rui Han with 6.3 seconds left sealed it.
Most of the game was a back-and-forth prize fight with one team scoring and the other matching not long after. That trend was set less than two minutes in.
Nobles senior forward Kyle O'Leary (Medfield, Mass.) scored 19 seconds into the game, but Andover tied it when junior defenseman Zachary Fedele unloaded a missile that zipped past Munroe.
Nobles senior forward Teddy MacAusland (Westwood, Mass.) gave his team the lead on a snipe from the face-off dot with just under five minutes left in the first period. Andover came oh-so-close to responding at the buzzer when senior defenseman Zachary Skowronek ripped a one-timer that got past Monroe, but it was after the horn.
Andover finally did tie the game shortly into the second period when senior forward Grayden Robertson-Palmer got the rebound off a shot from Skowronek and buried it.
[caption id="attachment_148232" align="alignright" width="501"]
Kieran McIntosh celebrates scoring in the Flood-Marr championship. (Brian Kelly/NEHJ)[/caption]
Nobles answered just over two minutes later when senior Ben Nakata (West Barnstable, Mass.) fired a shot past the blocker of Andover goalie Chase Anderson (Marblehead, Mass.), giving the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead. Andover sophomore forward Kieran McIntosh tied the game just two minutes after that when he smacked a shot from the high slot that beat Monroe.
The Big Blue finally got their first lead of the game minutes into the third period when sophomore forward Nate Kreppner scored on a one-timer. They held that lead for most of the period until O'Leary potted his second with just 2:44 to play in the game, making it 4-4.
There were various standouts and takeaways from this one. Let's dive in.
