WINDSOR, Conn. — On a chilly Monday night inside and outside the arena, Loomis Chaffee hosted Choate in a tilt between two teams facing a different set of challenges.
Loomis Chaffee has afforded itself well so far this year, bursting out of the gates with a 5-0 start. Four of Loomis' wins were by one goal, the other coming by two. The challenge for coach J.R. Zavisza's club was to keep the momentum rolling while going up against an opponent that has struggled to get going.
Choate Rosemary Hall, meanwhile, came into the game with a mediocre start to the season, going 1-2, cumulatively being outscored 11-12. Choate's first game seemed promising, as the Wild Boars scored six goals in a win over Academie St-Louis. But it's been a struggle for consistency since.
In a fast-paced game between the two teams at Loomis' Savage/Johnson Rink, the home squad held on for the narrow 2-1 victory. Here's what we saw:
Why Loomis won: Simply, the Pelicans took the play to the Wild Boars most of the night, winning the battles for pucks along the boards, out-hustling for loose pucks and generally dominating the tempo. But, despite all that, full marks to the Wild Boars for keeping the game tight right until the end. This was an entertaining horse race.
Best player on the ice: Left wing Alex Krause of the Pelicans had perhaps the best performance of the night, showing stellar hustle and formidable vision of the plays developing ahead of him. His linemates — he was joined by center Anthony Cipollone (Purchase, N.Y.) and right wing Cody Hoban (Guilford, Conn.) — deserve props too, as the trio was instrumental in generating offense, winning possession of pucks down low, looking for the open man on odd-man rushes and generally showing a lot of creativity with the puck. Krause had the game's opening goal, finishing a beautiful 2-on-1 pass from captain Hoban. Also having a noteworthy game was Loomis' Ben Ritter (Pittsford, N.Y.), who saw a lot of extra ice time on defense. His poise and vision with the puck served the Pelicans well.
Key play: When Christopher Hibson (New Haven, Conn.) bulled his way from the corner to the front of the net before pushing in his own rebound, it looked like his goal, which made it 2-0 early in the third, was insurance. But when Choate's Zach Yokoyama blazed down the left boards and rifled a shot past Ethan Roberts to make it 2-1 three minutes later, Hibson's goal became even more vital. We had us a nail-biter. For much of the game, the Pelicans were holding the play but couldn't put the game away, thanks in large part to Wild Boar goalie Tomas Horak. So, Hibson's eventual game winner was key.
Best battle of the night: Burly and punishing Choate defenseman Alex Suny (North Reading, Mass.) had many battles down low and in front of his own net. But perhaps the best battle of the night went to Wild Boar goalie Horak, who didn't have to stand on his head to keep his team in the game — many good opportunities were pushed wide or blocked by his D-men, especially in the second period — but when he had to, he made the key saves. He definitely battled to keep his team in the game.
Intangibles: The Pelicans seemed to be the tighter team, perhaps because of having more game reps. This meant their line changes were smooth, their transition game was in sync, their shifts were kept short and their play without the puck was impressive.
Paul Grant is an editor and a writer for HockeyJournal.com and Seamans Media. He previously oversaw hockey content at ESPN.com and Sporting News. You can connect with him at pgrant@hockeyjournal.com.
