WOBURN, Mass. — Despite the cold temperatures outside, the intensity was heated inside O’Brien Rink as Burlington dispatched Winchester, 2-1.
Burlington jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one period and hung on late for the win after a second period tally from Winchester cut the deficit in half.
The Red Devils improved to 1-1, bouncing back from a 4-1 opening night loss against Woburn. It was the season debut for the 0-1 Sachems, playing under first year head coach Geno Khachadourian, formerly an assistant at the Rivers School.
Junior Zach Auble opened the scoring early in the first period when he connected on a nice feed from senior John Condon, who was entering the zone down the left wing.
Senior Ryan O’Halloran, the best player in the game by far, gave the Red Devils the two-goal lead later in the opening period. He collected the puck in the right wing corner, skated around one defender, and unleashed a hard wrist shot just under the bar.
Winchester senior Ryan McCarthy got his team on the board in the second period when he scored a breakaway tally by sniping one under the cross bar. The play was started by junior Colin Van Stry who forced a turnover in the neutral zone and quickly got it up to McCarthy.
While neither goalie faced a lot of rubber, Burlington junior Joe Trabucco made a key save with just over four minutes left to preserve the lead.
Prospect notes
Ryan O’Halloran
Burlington, 5/2/02, C, left shot, 5-11/150
O’Halloran scored a beauty of a goal on the power play and had a couple of other highlight reel plays in the first period. His stickhandling is good and he can avoid defenders. O'Halloran's skating is good, but he’ll need a little bit more of a second gear going forward. His habits need work, but he’s able to play in all situations at the MIAA level.
Overall, he’s a really good player who would be on the radar of a lot of Division III and a few Division I programs if he was in prep. I’d like to see what he could do when playing in more structure and with better linemates. It was clear by how he played later in the game that he was a little frustrated with some chances he generated not being converted. Any prep school that has post-graduates and USPHL NCDC teams should be all over O’Halloran for 2020-21.
Colin Van Stry
Winchester, 3/17/03, RW, right shot, 6-1/175
Van Stry forced the turnover and quickly got it up to his linemate for the lone Winchester goal. The junior is a power forward who is heavy on pucks. He sees the ice fairly well and did a good job crashing the net. Van Stry was one of the better forwards for Top Gun/NEFPHL 16-U during the split season.
John Condon
Burlington, 2/1/02, C, left shot, 5-8/140
Condon is on the smaller side, but he’s quick and saw the ice very well. His assist was a pretty play where he found the seam and got the puck to a linemate for the score. There were a couple of other plays made by the senior later in the game.
Ryan McCarthy
Winchester, 1/1/02, C, right shot, 6-1/190
McCarthy had a goal and plays with a lot of speed. He was able to beat defenders wide and create offense on the rush on several instances. He played in all situations for the Sachems and is a senior that a couple prep schools and junior programs in the EHL should have their eye on for 2020-21.
Michael Martignetti
Winchester, 5/13/02, D, left shot, 5-11/180
Martignetti, a senior, is mobile and plays with some jam. He might have crossed the line and negated what would have been a power play at the end of the second period, but I like how he plays. He’d be a nice recruit for a prep school looking for a PG in 2020-21.
Michael Nigro
Winchester, 3/22/05, C, left shot, 5-8/135
Nigro is a good skater and he looked good in limited action as a young freshman. There was one shift in particular where he and his linemates did a good job generating offense.
Liam Doherty
Winchester, 7/22/03, D, left shot, 6-1/190
Doherty has good size and played in all situations for the Sachems. He’s a player that could some day make a positive impact for a prep school program.
Burlington lines
C. Costa - R. O’Halloran - S. Malone
Z. Auble - J. Condon - J. Vozikis
B. Janis - J. Jay - N. Berglund
S. Reith - C. Browne
T. Janis - A. Andriolo
J. Trabucco
Winchester lines
A. Mario - R. McCarthy - C. Van Stry
S. Vozzella - J. Falso - J. Christakis
A. O’Connor - M. Nigro - M. Tong
S. Vaughan - F. Napolitano - S. Cashell
M. Martignetti - N. Ciaccio
P. Sullivan - L. Doherty
R. DiVincenzo
