NEWBURYPORT — What was that one quote Newburyport boys hockey coach Paul Yameen gave after his team’s opening game against Triton earlier this year?
Oh yeah.
“This is unlike any other game we play all year.”
Just copy and paste that whenever the two “Border Battle” rivals meet on ice.
Because once again during the two team’s rematch on Saturday night at the Graf, any pre-thought notion on how the game would go was quickly thrown out the window. Triton survived an early onslaught to fight back to a one-goal game early in the second period, but Newburyport eventually pulled away for the 7-3 victory behind four more goals from Jack Sullivan, earning the season sweep. It was the second four-goal performance over the span of a week for the electric sophomore, who has now poured in 21 of them this year.
“It feels great to beat them twice,” said Sullivan. “(Triton) is usually a good team, they always have a good program. So it’s just good to get a couple of wins against them.”
You want to know how “unlike any other games” these are?
Here’s a stat that really sums it up.
We all knew that it was going to be a rebuilding year for Triton (0-14-0), which graduated out a massive senior class and welcomed in a former 100-point scorer for the program, Sam Rennick, as its new coach. Which has, as you can see by their record, proven to be the case, with the Vikings starting a freshman goalie in Alex Witt (35 saves) and basically a brand new defensmen core — outside of Cullen Kohan — between Max Pasquini, Cal Cole, Collin Ingalls and Tedy Magee. But following Saturday, the Vikings have scored at least two goals in a game five times now, with two of those being three-goal games.
… And guess who both of those three-goals games are against?
Yup, Newburyport.
“You know, the season may not look like it, we don’t have the greatest record, but these guys have real heart,” said Rennick. “They know what it takes to win, it’s just doing it every shift. But guys stepped up tonight, and we were able to get back into the game.”
At the start, though, that didn’t look like it was going to be a possibility.
Newburyport (9-5-1) stormed out of the gates early, getting a one-timer from Henry Waddell that deflected through the goalie’s legs five minutes in. Sullivan then converted a nice stretch pass from Owen Mongeau for his first of the night, then scored on a power play when a deflection off a save came right to his stick and he easily poked it home, making it 3-0.
Triton could have easily packed it in, but that’s not what happened.
“It’s just the ebbs and flows of a Triton game,” said Yameen. “I think we had a chance to put them away there in the first period, and give (Triton) credit, they didn’t quit. We kind of changed our style a little bit going up three goals, and we’ve seen that many times this year. We can be inconsistent at times.”
And it started on the power play.
Taking advantage of the man-up opportunity, senior forward Greg Muse got to the front of the net and jammed one home to make it a more manageable deficit at 3-1 after the first period. Then a few minutes into the second, freshman Carson Rumph picked off a bad pass in the offensive zone, and fed Josh Monteiro for an easy snipe to bring it back to a one-goal game. The goal instantly changed the atmosphere in the rink, and brought Rennick back to his own playing days with the Vikings.
“It’s been unreal,” said Rennick. “Playing in (the rivalry) is definitely different, you get stuck in the moment and it gets intense. Now as a coach, I’ve been a part of it twice now and I love it. I get just as into it with them on the bench. The only thing now is that I’m more pumped for the guys when they do well.”
For Yameen, it’s admittedly been fun seeing a former star player he coached against take over a rival program.
“It makes me feel old,” laughed Yameen. “I remember Sammy playing and he was a great player, just a really good player. We had some good battles with him. So I expect that he’s going to turn that ship around, no doubt about it.”
But in returning to Saturday’s game, Newburyport eventually took back over.
Mongeau scored off a turnover to give the Clippers some cushion, and Sullivan would complete his hat-trick to make it a 5-2 game heading into the third period. The Clippers would then get a knuckleball of a goal from Axel Becker to start the final frame, and Sullivan’s fourth tally with 30 seconds left would counter Muse’s second that came earlier in the period.
The surging Clippers are now 6-1-1 over their last eight games, and are up to No. 17 in the latest Division 2 power rankings.
“Everyone’s producing and everone is doing their jobs,” said Sullivan. “Defense and forwards are really stepping up, so it’s really good to see the team playing better.”
Newburyport 7, Triton 3
Newburyport (9-5-1): 3 2 2 — 7
Triton (0-14-0): 1 1 1 — 3
Goals: N — Jack Sullivan 4, Henry Waddell, Owen Mongeau, Axel Becker; T — Greg Muse 2, Josh Monteiro
Assists: N — ; T — Jase Hersey, Cullen Kohan, Carson Rumph, Monteiro
Saves: N — Sean Murray 13; T — Alex Witt 35