BOURNE, Mass. — After falling down 1-0, Sandwich scored three unanswered goals to defeat Barnstable 3-1 on Thursday afternoon at Gallo Arena.
Seniors Tim Clark and Rob Cardillo and sophomore Colin McIver scored for Sandwich while senior Garrett Dunne found the back of the net for Barnstable. Freshman Josh Itri had two assists and sophomore Mitchell Norkevicius picked up the win in net for the Blue Knights.
Sandwich, typically the underdog in games against Cape & Islands League rival Barnstable, clearly was the better team at five-on-five, but there was quite a bit of special teams play in the game. Barnstable’s only goal came on the man advantage, but Sandwich’s penalty kill did the trick later in the game. The Blue Knights killed off a prolonged two-man advantage at the start of the third period and then fended off another Red Raiders’ power-play attempt later in the stanza.
Barnstable was playing its first game of the season after just two practices, due to challenges with the coronavirus. The Red Raiders usually are a strong program and showed effort and grit on Thursday, but the results just weren’t there.
Scoring summary
BHS 1-0: Dunne scored the only goal of the first period about midway through the opening 15 minutes. It came on a zone entry in transition. His shot from the right-wing circle beat Norkevicius. Colby Pearsall picked up the assist.
SHS 1-1: With the first line doing a good job hemming Barnstable deep in its own zone, Sandwich scored the equalizer. Itri’s strong forecheck forced a turnover. Senior captain Mike Barrasso then sent a low to high pass up to the left point. That’s where Clark collected the puck and sent a wrist shot on net that beat Barnstable goaltender Zachary Harmon up high.
SHS 2-1: The second goal started off similarly for the Blue Knights. Again, Itri’s persistence in hunting pucks and forechecking hard paid dividends. Itri knocked the puck away from a Barnstable defender and Barrasso fed Rob Cardillo for what would hold up as the game-winning goal.
SHS 3-1: While it was the first line that did the damage on the first two goals, a combination of the second and third lines came through to ice the victory. Sandwich again was doing a good job cycling pucks down low. The puck came out front and McIver shoveled it home. Matthew DiGiacomo and Christopher Cardillo had the assists.
Prospect watch
There was a clear-cut top prospect in the game. It was Itri, a Sandwich freshman who is one of the better ’06s in the state. He’s still on the smaller side, especially when going up against older players in high school. However, he plays fearlessly and doesn’t back down from anyone.
On numerous occasions Thursday, Itri went hard for loose pucks. The right-shot right wing won races and came away with the puck in 50-50 battles. After hunting down pucks, he did a good job of setting up teammates. His vision and playmaking ability were noteworthy in this game.
Itri has the ability to play Division 1 college hockey. As he gets older, I believe he’ll become more assertive with the puck and hone certain areas of game.
Sandwich lines
R. Cardillo - Barrasso - Itri
Greeley - DiGiacomo - C. Cardillo
Hemeon - McIver - Jordan
Clark - C. Norkevicius
MacKinnon - Ellis
Kent - Munk
M. Norkevicius
Barnstable lines
Longueil - Leone - Dunne
Pearsall - McCarthy - Semprini
Howell - Gallagher - Jones
White
Martone - Baxter
O’Connell - O’Malley
Conway
Harmon
