DEERFIELD, Mass. — The old saying that the team that gets off the bus with the better players usually wins games didn’t apply on Sunday afternoon.
Avon Old Farms entered Deerfield’s beautiful new facility, the Class of 1993 Rink, with four NCAA Division I commits and several other highly coveted college prospects, but left with a 4-1 loss.
While Deerfield’s roster certainly lacks the high-end players that bring college coaches and NHL scouts to prep buildings, the Big Green have a very good senior goaltender in Dartmouth commit Thomas Gale and four or five other players who are potential impact players at the Division III level.
Deerfield scored three special teams goals, including two on the man advantage, to bolster its offense while Gale held down the fort at the other end. Defenseman Zach Milton, center Alex Robert, defenseman Noah de la Durantaye, and defenseman Pierce Patterson were the goal scorers for Deerfield.
The game started off on the right foot for Avon Old Farms as Timur Alishlalov struck for a power play tally at the 4:13 mark of the first period. The ’02 left wing blasted home a one-timer from the left wing circle after receiving a pass from Tabor Heaslip.
The momentum switched to the hosts at the 11:54 mark of the first period. Sasha Shogren did a great job digging out a puck from below the goal line and passed it right to Milton who took a step or two in from the blue line before finding the back of the net with a wrist shot.
The score would stay knotted at one until the second period when the Big Green struck for three, including two similar tallies on the power play in a span of 1:24. First, Robert gave Deerfield the lead 4:51 into the second as he buried a shot from the left wing circle after receiving a feed from Shogren.
At the 6:15 mark of the second, de la Durantaye connected from the left wing circle after good puck movement by Tomas Zourikian and Kyle Jarosz, who had a couple of assists on the afternoon.
Skating four aside, Patterson’s shot from the point found its way through traffic after Deerfield had worked the puck around the offensive zone with precision.
Gale played well to pick up the victory between the pipes, but this game was in no way about him stealing a victory. Deerfield, coached by Tim McVaugh, is an older team with plenty of prep veterans who are ‘99s and ‘00s to go along with a couple of ‘01s who’ve been through the ringer.
Shogren was the standout on Sunday afternoon. Some coaches and scouts might remember him from his days playing for Blake (Minn.) High School before he came out to prep. He’s a smart, cerebral player who knows where to go to find pucks. He will be a great NESCAC player if he’s not a fringe Division I commit. While they didn’t get involved in the scoring Sunday, left wing Michael Holland and center Sean McAvoy are both bound for NESCAC schools. On defense, de la Durantaye was solid and junior Eamon Doheny has size and can play with a mean streak. He’s a bubble Division I player or a very, very good NESCAC defenseman.
Avon continues to struggle, despite having some talent that should produce more wins. The Winged Beavers were without forward Jason Siedem, who is a former BC commit and future Division I player.
Alishlalov, being recruited by a few of the top Hockey East schools, scored a goal and made one other nifty toe-drag before sailing a shot just wide. He has skill, but he wasn’t consistently a force on Sunday.
‘03s Tyler Boucher (Boston University) and J.P Turner both have potential to be good prep players, but neither had much of an impact Sunday. Boucher made a couple of big hits and has the size and skating to win some battles down low. Turner’s feet need improvement, but he got off a couple of shots on goal. ’03 center Patrick Neal isn’t an elite player, but he goes into the dirty areas and can shoot the puck.
The best ’03 in Sunday’s game was defenseman Drew Tsakounis, a Penn State commit. He has skill and had the puck on his stick a lot.
AOF coach John Gardner elected to give Providence commit Alex Aslanidis the day off in net. He went with ’03 Connor Callaghan, who was making his first prep start. Callaghan is one of the more well-regarded ’03 goaltenders in this region. He made a couple of nice saves and could only really be faulted on the fourth goal.
The Winged Beavers get back to work Thursday for the start of the Avon Old Farms Christmas Tournament while the Big Green head to the Boston area to compete in the Flood Marr Tournament that starts Friday at Nobles.
Avon Old Farms Lines
20 S. Miklakos - 7 T. Heaslip - 16 T. Boucher
21 T. Heinke - 25 G. Shamburger - 24 J. Turner
14 T. Alishlalov - 15 P. Neal - 11 J. Louder
18 T. Gordon - 23 A. Pratt - 3 C. Aube
5 M. Acee - 27 R. Shafer
9 D. Tsakounis - 12 C. Young
4 R. Zhao - 22 C. Ramsay
13 S. Mandel - 8 N. Young
31 C. Callaghan
Deerfield Lines
23 M. Holland - 5 S. McAvoy - 27 T. Zourikian
7 K. Jarosz - 14 A. Robert - 9 S. Shogren
19 M. Miron - 5 S. McAvoy - 21 C. Guest
20 E. Doheny - 4 Z. Milton
8 N. De La Durantaye - 6 P. Patterson
33 T. Gale
