Salisbury, Kent meet in playoffs

SALISBURY — Salisbury School and Kent School faced each other in the semifinal round of the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) boys ice hockey championship tournament. The tournament took place between Wednesday, March 2, and Sunday, March 6. In the quarterfinal round, third-seeded Kent beat sixth-seeded Kimball Union 3-2 after two overtime periods. In the same round, second-seeded Salisbury faced seventh-seeded Cushing Academy at their home rink, which was filled with excited and festively costumed Knights fans. Salisbury took an early lead against Cushing and racked up five points before Cushing finally got on the score board in the second period. Salisbury easily won the game with a final score of 7-2. “We’re really excited about the way the team played,” said head coach Andrew Will after the game. “We came out hard and stuck to the game plan. A lot of different kids made contributions to our win, and we really needed that against a really good Cushing team.” For the semifinal round, Kent and Salisbury headed up to the Icenter in Salem, N.H., Friday, March 4.Both teams played hard, but Kent edged out Salisbury by a point, winning the game 5-4. In the final round of the tournament on Sunday, March 6, Kent played a tough game against Milton Academy. Although they only allowed Milton to score two points, they lost the championship 2-1.