Boys' Hockey Doubles Up Belmont, 4-2

Putting up deuces in the first and last period gave boys' ice hockey team a hard-earned victory 4-2 over Belmont Saturday night, Dec. 18, in Woburn.

But don't expect Woburn's head coach to sing the praises of his team.

"Belmont made us look bad. We did a terrible job pressuring them," said Jim Duran.

Duran said certain individuals did play well but "you can't try to win playing one-on-one," he said.

And it was good teamwork that gave Woburn (2-0-0) the perfect start to the game verses Belmont (1-1-0). In their first rush into Belmont's end, junior Casey Shea collected his first of three assists feeding senior captain Alex Holland whose wrist shot beat Belmont's sophomore goalie John Egbert to give the Tanners a 1-0 lead after only 29 seconds into the game.

Woburn continued the pressure for the reminder of the period giving Belmont's offense only the rare chance against the Tanner's starting goaltender, freshman Jeremy Flibotte.

Just before the period ended, Woburn doubled its lead with Shea again being the instigator by setting up junior John Dirienzo to knock in the puck in close with 1:06 remaining in the first.

Belmont's Head Coach Dante Muzzioli advice to his charges apparently inspired the team to take the initiative and the Marauders began controlling the majority of the game. Brian Gramolini had Belmont's first good chance on the first power play of the period when he lined up in front of Fibotte a low wrist shot that the Woburn goalie got his glove on.

But a second man advantage a short time later allowed Belmont to half the Tanners advantage. Kevin Viglirolo, who scored four goals in the first game verses Melrose, nicely stick-handled his way out of the right corner and found defender Matt Brown camped out in the crease and the senior beat the freshman at 8 minutes in the second frame.

By the end of the period, Woburn began picking up the play with the line of Bobby Smith, Joe Connors and Eddie Aprile keeping Belmont fighting to get out of their own end.

Woburn came out flying in the third period and within three minutes they increased their lead when senior Tom Arsenault took a Shea pass in front and struck home the puck.

Yet Belmont had the answer from a trio of seniors with a pretty goal that began with precise passes from Brown and Anthony Perrone opened a shooting lane for Evan Nichols to score his first of the year and closing the score to 3-2.

Belmont began pressing the play that allowed the Tanners to counter attack, leading to several opportunities against the Marauder defense.

And it was Aprile's from in close shot, with assists from Connors and Smith that doubled the lead with only two and a half minutes remaining and securing the win.

"We'll take a win in the Middlesex League always because it's such a hard thing to get," said Duran. "But we have to play more a system game to continue winning."