CANTON, Mass. — There was no love lost between Thayer and Rivers when the two schools met at the Canton Sportsplex on Friday evening.
Jack Murphy’s game-winning goal with 11:48 to play in the third period was the difference in a 3-1 Thayer victory that included a last second empty net goal. Sophomore C.J. Monturio scored in the first period and Nolan Fitzpatrick put the game away with nine seconds to go.
Junior goaltender Gavin Fitzpatrick picked up the win. The Norwood, Mass., native has given up just two goals in two games, both victories for the 2-0 Tigers. The Red Wings dropped to 1-1 on the young season.
It was a very chippy game that included a significant injury and an ejection. The game was poorly officiated with the referees and linesman mixing up hybrid icing, obvious penalties, and offsides. The trio were seemingly unaware of some basic rules of hockey and were intimidated by the screaming and yelling of Thayer head coach Tony Amonte and Rivers head coach Shawn McEachern.
The significant injury was to Cade Webber who was lost for the game, and possibly some future ones, after the Boston University recruit was the victim of a vicious slash in the second period. The 2019 NHL Draft prospect reportedly suffered a sprained MCL.
Thayer drew first blood at the 9:56 mark of the first period when Monturio, camped out in front of the net, quickly ripped a shot into the back of the net after receiving a feed from freshman Nick Roukounakis, who had won a puck battle in back of the goal line. The two youngsters and senior Reilly Moran, an Army commit, were very good as a line.
Roukounakis and Monturio are two of the better ’03 forwards in Massachusetts. Roukounakis is heavy on pucks and is able to bull his way to the scoring areas. The strength of his game is in his power, but he made a nice move, stick-handling through a pair of Rivers defensemen for a breakaway chance in the second period.
Monturio went to the net and can play with pace. He competes really hard and he has some skill and speed to go with it. He joins the prep ranks after playing at Xaverian High School last winter.
Thayer’s top two defensemen are ’01 senior Jake Flynn and ’02 sophomore Nolan Hayes. Both are adept at moving pucks north. Flynn has gotten better defensively and he gaps well. He made a couple of nice reads to pick off passes before transitioning the other way.
Hayes likes to push the pace and he has good vision offensively. He makes good, quick passes up. He sometimes runs around a little too much and tries to force some plays, but he has a nice skill set.
It was a quiet game for Northeastern recruit Sasha Teleguine, who is one of the top ‘02s in New England. ’04 Michael Stenberg didn’t look out of place as he skated in his second ever prep game.
Thayer obviously misses Philadelphia Flyers first round pick Jay O’Brien, who is now with Providence College. Northeastern commit Aidan McDonough, UMass commit Jason Dobay and Tristan Amonte have all moved onto the USHL. There’s still some talent in place to make a run at a bid into the Large School Tournament, but the Tigers lack the depth of the top teams in the region.
For Rivers, the team wasn’t able to muster much in the way of offense. The lone goal was scored by ’01 Matt Cormier who walked a Thayer defender with some nifty stick-handling before finishing off a backhander on a breakaway. Cormier and Yale commit Philip Tresca were clearly the top two offensive threats for the Red Wings.
While Webber missed much of the game with an injury, it wasn’t a great viewing even before then. While not a NHL prospect, Brown commit Antonio Andreozzi is a really good skater who can make plays. Bentley recruit Patrick Lawn and Ryan Bell round out a solid top four on the Rivers blue line.
Rivers is without terrific goaltender Aidan Porter, the Princeton commit who is now playing in the BCHL. Stepping up to try to fill those big shoes is junior Casen Janko, who was solid, despite taking the loss.
Thayer Lines
9 N. Roukounakis - 24 R. Moran - 7 C. Monturio
19 C. Hayes - 10 S. Teleguine - 18 N. Fitzpatrick
15 G. Lincoln - 14 M. Stenberg - 22 Z. Glass
26 J. Bennett - 16 M. Sullivan - 17 K. Moriarty
4 J. Flynn - 12 N. Hayes
6 J. Murphy - 8 C. Mannion
XD - 23 C. Foley
35 G. Fitzpatrick
Rivers Lines
5 M. McEachern - 7 P. Tresca - 6 M. Cormier
22 H. Muller - 17 T. Miller - 9 R. Casey
14 W. Conway - 3 C. Nee - 11 Z. Deener-Chodirker
21 S. Amato - 18 M. Mortarelli - 24 T. Lank
15 A. Andreozzi - 20 P. Lawn
8 C. Webber - 16 R. Bell
4 D. Morelli - 19 R. Rahbany
1 C. Janko
