Oliver Ames Hockey Ends Tourney Run With Sectional Finals Loss to Franklin

Franklin's fast start was the downfall for the Oliver Ames' boys' ice hockey team in its 3-1 loss to the Panthers in the Division 2 South finals at Gallo Arena in Bourne Tuesday night.

“We went all the way and gave everything we had,” said OA head coach Jim Sullivan. “They seemed to do their best and that’s all you can ask.  It’s the furthest we’ve made it in years.

"It seems every year we’ve gone one more step. We’ll see what happens next year.”

OA will have the task of replacing the seniors on the roster as Bennett Ahern, Andrew Mancini, Thomas McNeeley, Kyle Georgeu, Jimmy Waltz, David Nolan, Edward Deveau, Kyle Hayes, Sean Kyne, Corey McLaughlin, Justin Davidner, and Andrew Romans played their last game as Tigers. 

“It’ll be tough because there were 12 of them,” he said. “We’ve been coming up the last 10, 15 years, since I’ve been here, it’s always gone up. We’ve done a nice job of recruiting good kids that are with the program and we’ll see what happens.”

The Tigers' only goal came by Hayes with 26 seconds left in the game as OA made a mad rush in the final seconds with goaltender Jim Tierney out of the net.

OA had been off for almost a week after beating Canton in the semifinals, while Franklin had defeated Mansfield, 4-3, Sunday in their semifinal game.

That might have caught up to the Tigers early in the game as the Panthers jumped out to a quick lead and never looked back.

With just a minute into the game, Franklin got on the scoreboard as Cam Curley slipped a shot past OA keeper Jimmy Tierney for a 1-0 lead.

Before the first period ended, the Panthers tacked on another score as Pat Stlyson netted a power-play goal with 2:54 left.

“We had a tough time putting the puck in the net,” Sullivan said. “Instead of us coming out hitting, they came out hitting. It slowed us down a little bit, but we played well.”

Franklin took control of the play in the seecond period, putting the pressure on the Tigers, who kept in the game by Tierney in net. 

The Panthers added their third goal of the game as Kyle Powers scored with Alec Borkowski getting the assist for a 3-0 lead.

The Panthers themselves short-handed during the game, but OA couldn't covert their power-play opportunities. 

The Panthers will now advance to play North champion Wilmington, who beat Danvers, 3-2, at the TD Garden Sunday at 1:30 p.m. The Tigers finished their season with a 17-5-2 record, beating Dennis-Yarmouth, Coyle-Cassidy and Canton in the postseason.