Plenty of action, but no resolution in clash of hockey titans

SALISBURY — In a collision between two prep school hockey goliaths, Salisbury School and Avon Old Farms battled to a 1-1 tie Saturday afternoon, Feb. 20, at Salisbury’s Rudd Rink. 

It is common in sports for anticipation to exceed the final product, for buildup to spawn eventual letdown. Hype is hard to reel in and harder still to fulfill, and so with any highly touted match-up comes the potential for disappointment. 

Saturday’s affair, a showdown between two title-contenders — Salisbury, the three-time defending champions, and Avon, the consensus number-one team in New England — certainly didn’t want for pre-game buzz.   

But, boy, did it deliver. 

It doesn’t get any better

It was everything one could hope for in a high school hockey game. The pace was swift, the skill was sublime and the atmosphere was intoxicating. It was an empty-the-tank, pedal-to-the-metal kind of afternoon, the competition fierce without being nasty, the emotions fiery without being feral. It was as fine a display of the sport as you’ll see at this level.     

“That was terrific,” Salisbury coach Andrew Will said afterward. “Just a great prep school hockey game between two really good teams in front of a boisterous crowd.” 

Ranked number one in U.S. Hockey Report’s latest New England poll, the Avon Winged Beavers entered Saturday’s game with a record of 17-1-3, their only loss coming nearly three months ago. The Salisbury Knights, meanwhile, rolled into action having won 12 of their past 13 games, the team lighting up the scoreboard like the 1980s Edmonton Oilers. 

A rollicking atmosphere

Free admission notwithstanding, the game attracted a sell-out crowd. The stands were filled from end to end and spectators were pressed to the boards like magnets, banging on the glass when the action came near.  There was hardly an inch of free space to be found, and not a quiet crevice in the building. 

Salisbury’s student section raised a racket from start to finish, only growing louder as the game wore on. They pounded drums, rang cow bells and banged pots and pans for nearly two hours straight. They flourished large facial cutouts of their favorite players like it was a college basketball game and waved a school flag above their heads, the entire horde of screaming fans dressed in white — except, of course, for those who were shirtless. 

(One young boy, watching the game in the adjacent section, covered his ears for the entire second period. When the third period began, he had abandoned his seat.)

‘The arena erupted’

The first period started fast, setting the pace for the rest of the game. Scoring chances were even, though Avon managed to control the puck for longer stretches of play in Salisbury’s zone. The Knights nearly grabbed the lead on a two-on-one rush late in the period, but Avon goalie Brandon Schellin flashed out his glove to deny Jordan Kaplan from the top of the left circle.  

Early in the second, on the power play, it was Kaplan who got the better of Schellin. Floating in the high slot as Salisbury worked the puck around the perimeter, Kaplan took a hard pass from Edgars Trejis from the half boards and redirected it past a sliding Schellin. He was mobbed by his teammates as the goal horn blared and the arena erupted.

Invigorated by Kaplan’s goal, the Knights pressed hard for another one. Their forwards began moving the puck fluidly in the offensive zone, creating a slew of high-quality opportunities in the dying minutes of the frame. After Schellin stopped one shot from point-blank range, the puck slipped behind him and lay tantalizingly in the crease, before being swept away by an Avon defenseman; behind the net, the fans tossed up their arms and threw back their heads in disbelief. 

Eventually, the Winged Beavers made it to the locker room without incurring further damage. And after the game, Coach Will lamented his team’s inability to pad its advantage.  

“I think the big difference was we just couldn’t get that second goal,” he said. “If we had broken through and grabbed that two-goal lead, it might have been a different outcome.” 

A dramatic finish

To its credit, Salisbury refused to sit back and defend in the third period. Eying the elusive insurance goal, the Knights continued to attack, trading chances with Avon as though the game were tied. And when things broke down in their own zone, goalie Nick Sorgio was there to bail them out.   

It was thrilling hockey for the fans, the action moving up and down the ice like a runaway trolley car. With just under nine minutes to go, Salisbury’s Jacques Bouquot entered the zone on a two-on-two rush and rang a shot off the post; moments later, Sorgio denied Avon’s Benjamin Mirageas with a clutch blocker save, deflecting the puck out of play as Mirageas looked to the rafters in frustration. 

“SOR-GI-O!!” the Salisbury fans chanted. “SOR-GI-O!!” 

With the clock winding down, it appeared Avon might suffer its first shutout of the season. But a late penalty against Salisbury opened the door for the Winged Beavers, and their star forward, James Armstrong, marched right through.

Playing six against four with the goalie pulled, Avon dumped the puck into Salisbury’s zone and raced in on the forecheck. After a failed clearance, Armstrong gathered the puck in the corner to Sorgio’s right, stickhandled past a sliding defenseman, cut to the net and lifted a world-class backhander over Sorgio’s glove with 59 second remaining. The goalie’s shoulders slumped as Armstrong dropped to a knee and slid toward the Avon student section, feigning a bow-and-arrow pose as the visiting fans shook in excitement. 

It was a sensational solo effort, the kind of play that characterizes the talent of this league. Players of the highest caliber gravitate toward New England prep school hockey for moments and games like these. Put simply, there likely isn’t a higher level of high school athletic competition in the New England area.

The playoffs beckon   

For Salisbury, it was hard not to leave the ice on Saturday disappointed in the final score. Despite going toe-to-toe with the best team in the league and holding a lead into the final minute of play, they were forced to settle with a sour-tasting 1-1 tie. 

Coach Will admitted the late goal was a letdown, but chose to focus on the positives of the game as a whole.  

“I was really pleased with the way we played, especially how hard we competed and how disciplined we were in such a pressure-packed environment. It’s a tie that feels a bit like a loss, for sure, but it’s good that it feels that way because it means that we were playing with the lead. We forced them to catch us, rather than having to catch them,” he said. 

“We’re disappointed, obviously, that we gave up the tying goal, but if you focus on the process over the result I think you’ll come away with a lot of positives,” he added. 

Two games remain on the regular season schedule for Salisbury, after which the team will enter the New England tournament. Having led the Knights to the title the past three years, Will has a keen sense for what it takes to go the distance.

“I like where we are as a group,” he said. “If we can continue to play the way we did today, we have a great chance of making a run in the playoffs.” 

If they do, one has to assume they’ll run into Avon along the way. Perhaps Saturday was just the teaser. 

Go to www.salisburyschool.org for the schedule of matches.