Late letdown melts Ice Devils
by TOM UTESCHER
Through the first two periods of last Thursday’s hockey game Chestnut
Hill Academy forced visiting Upland Country Day School to play catch-up
much of the time. Tying the match at 3-3 near the end of the second frame,
Upland’s Yellow Jackets then left the Blue Devils behind with a
four-goal flurry in the third period. CHA recouped a couple points in
the closing minutes, but still suffered a 7-5 setback.
Upland improved to 13-3 on the season, while Chestnut Hill came away
with a mark of 2-7 despite a four-goal afternoon by senior center Bruno
Petrillo.
While Upland is an elementary and middle school that only goes up to
the ninth grade, they have their own hockey rink on campus and focus their
attention on the game to the exclusion of basketball and other winter
sports. Each of the teams was shortstaffed for Thursday’s game,
with injury, illness, and conflicting commitments keeping several Blue
Devils off the ice, while academic detentions plucked a few players from
the Upland line-up.
CHA got on the board immediately, as Petrillo won the opening face-off
and took the puck down the right wing to score with just seven seconds
elapsed. The 1-0 tally endured through two power plays for CHA and one
for the Yellow Jackets in the middle of the period, then Upland got on
the board with 1:20 remaining in the round, when Dan Lamond scored from
near the left face-off circle with an assist from Alex Menta.
With Petrillo in the penalty box for roughing early in the second stanza,
Upland’s Niko Arto put in a power play goal with 1:42 elapsed (assist:
Sam DuPont), giving the visitors their only lead in the game before the
third period. Back at even strength, CHA answered just 26 seconds later,
with Chris DeGennaro stuffing the puck in from in front of the cage and
assists going to Petrillo and Kevin Dougherty.
Later on, each team had a man in the box when an unassisted strike by
Petrillo put Chestnut Hill back in front, 3-2. It was even-up at 3-all
by the end of the period, though, as Arto notched his second goal with
assistance from Jon Foremny and Jere Elonen.
The game’s outcome was determined, for all intents and purposes,
when Upland erupted for four goals in the second five minutes of the closing
period. Mutual minor penalties were just expiring when an Arto-to-Foremny
goal started the assault with 10:11 remaining in the game. With 6:54 showing
on the board Elonen deposited a backhander with help from Keith Campbell
and Lamond, giving the Yellowjackets a 5-3 lead.
Alex Stroud’s strike on the power play (assists: Dan Patterson,
Arto) came with 5:15 to go, and just nine seconds later Upland was up
7-3 after Menta and Elonen assisted a goal by Campbell. Because the match
had started late, the game was now being played with a running clock,
giving the Devils little time to recover.
The hosts got one back with 3:28 to go, when Petrillo completed a hat
trick off of assists by Brett Shandler and Anthony Giovinazzo. Upland
was called for two penalties in the final minutes, and with CHA pulling
out keeper Greg Quillian (20 saves), the Devils deployed six skaters to
Upland’s three for a spell. Ben Pulley and Ryan Pierce earned assists
as Petrillo cashed in for his fourth goal, but it came with only 19 seconds
remaining, and Chestnut Hill was still two points short at the final horn.
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