Oliver Ames Hockey Shuts Down Top-Seeded Canton, Advances to South Sectional Finals

The Oliver Ames hockey team is heading to the Massachusetts Div. 2 South Sectional Finals.

The No. 4 Tigers skated their way to a 2-0 victory Wednesday night at the Gallo Arena in Bourne over the top-seeded Canton Bulldogs and their prolific attack.

Thankfully for OA, sophomore Jimmy Tierney was in net.

"If I was younger, I’d stand on my head too and show you what he did," OA coach Jim Sullivan said. "That’s all I can say – that’s what he did. He stood on his head. He kept us in that game, as usual."

Despite out-shooting OA, 36-24, Canton was unable to get the puck past Tierney once.

Oliver Ames, on the other hand, found the net in the second period when senior defenseman Andrew Romans gave OA the lead with an assist from sophomore Tyler Provost.

That was all the Tigers needed.

"We had our chances and we just couldn’t bury them," Canton coach Brian Shuman said. "They made their shot and we couldn’t make our shot. That’s what happens. We’re two teams that are separated by one win and one loss. We’re two very equal teams."

The win was cemented when OA senior Justin Davidner found an open Canton net with 46 seconds remaining. It was one of just six shots in the third period, compared to Canton's 12.

For Tierney, who had spent the third period fighting off a barrage of Canton shots, a weight was lifted off his shoulders.

"Words can’t describe what I went through," he said of Davidner's goal.

Perhaps the closest Canton came to tying the game came with 4:23 left in the third period when the puck bounced off the head of the OA goalie and into the air.

Tierney remained miraculously calm as the game dangled in the balance.

"I just froze," he said. "I didn’t want to move and have it bounce off my head so nothing really went through my mind."

Tierney and the Tigers will look to match their performance Sunday at Gallo against the winner of Thursday night's match-up between No. 6 Mansfield and No. 7 Franklin. The time of Sunday's game has yet to be announced. The winner will move on to the State Championship game at the TD Garden in Boston.

Surely, the Tigers fan base will be out in full force.

"It’s huge, having the fans here," Tierney said. "That really gives you motivation to just come out on the ice and look up and see basically our whole school here, it’s nice."

For a look at the celebration as time wound down, click here.