Brian Schuster has a big weekend for the Stars, scoring a goal and adding 2 assist.
The Stars got two goals from Greg Girtatos, and one each from Justin Gaudino, Mike Tavares, scoring leader Danny Loughlin and Ty Little. Assist were credited to Girtatos, Tavares, Little, Tim Parker, Brian Schuster (2), James Devlin, Sean McDougal and Zach Lubinksi. Brendan wakeham got the win in net as he turned away 22 shot.
This upcoming weekend the Stars will play a home and home game against the Eastern Kodiaks. Game times are 8:30pm Saturday Night at Exeter and Sunday, 2:30pm at the Huts.
In what was a penalty fest weekend The New England Stars were able to come away with 4 points from the NJ Kings this past weekend in Dracut and have climbed into second place, sitting 3 points back of the league leading Cape Cob Cubs.
Saturday Night saw the Stars Jump out an 1-0 lead on a goal by Tim Parker with an assist going to Brad Cunningham. However, just a few minutes later the Kings would score 2 goals and eventually would take a 3-1 lead by the end of the first period. The Stars would not quit and it would be Jeff Hall scoring his first goal of the year that would bring the Stars back within one. The team would continue to trade goals and the Stars would eventually squeeze out a 7-6 win.
Sean Duncan Scored 2 goals angainst the Kings on Sunday
The New England Stars traveled to Hyannis, Ma last night to take on their newly formed rival, the Cape Cod Cubs, in front of a sold out crowd of 2,000 fans. The Stars and Cubs were coming off a 5-5 tie that night before and the fans got exactly the same intensity and excitement as what was expected from the defending IJHL Champion Stars and the current first place Cubs. At 13:54 of the first period the Stars would open the scoring for the second straight night off the stick of Captain Zach Lubinski, while killing a penalty. Lubinski who has been a leader by example would force the Cubs goalie, Alex Minnehan, to make an errant pass right to him and he would make no mistake of burying an empty net goal to give the Stars a 1-0 lead.
Sean Duncan celebrates his first period power play goal.
The second period would see much of the same as the Stars would take a 4-1 lead with goals from Ryan Arensbach and Cam Mello five minutes apart. Arensbach goal was generated from a great individual play from Brian Schuster. Schuster, a second year player up from the Stars Junior B team from last year, came off the bench off a late change and pressured the Cubs defense in to a turnover. He would find Arensbach right in front of the net and and he would make no mistake and buried the third goal of the night for the Stars. “Great individual effort by Brian to set up that goal,” Said Fontas. “He has been a real surprise for us this year. He works his tail off and is rarely out of position.” The Stars would continue to outplay the Cubs and and Cam Mello would give the Stars a 4-1 lead with 9:14 left in the second period. This time it was Arensbach who would make a great individual effort on the forecheck as he would beat a Cubs defender to the puck just in side the blue line and put it on net where Mello would make disposal of the rebound. “Another great individual effort both by Ryan and Cam.” said Fontas. “This is what it takes. A lot of great individual efforts to give us the full team effort.”
The third period was a little different story. The Cubs would hold a 15-5 advantage in shots and would score three third period goals, the last one coming with just 1:41 left in the game. “We looked a bit tired in the third. But give the Cubs some credit. They are a very good team and they were not going to let us walk away with the two points in front of their home crowd.” Fontas said. “Overall our team is very happy with our weekend, but we are not satisfied.” The Stars will face the New Jersey Kings this upcoming weekend in a two game match up at the Huts. Game times are Saturday October 31st at 8:00pm and Sunday November 1st at 11am.
Danny Loughlin led the Stars attack with two gaols and two assist
The Stars came out very aggressive in the first period and would put themselves in an unfamiliar position by scoring the first goal of the game of the stick of Loughlin on the first shift of the night. “It was a great way to set the tone of the game.” said Head Coach Dan fontas. “We have been getting better with our intensity level and preparation, the kids came ready to play tonight.” In the next minute and a half both teams would score goals and what looked to become a scoring parade the score would remain 2-1 in favor of the home team at the end of the first period.
In the second period the Cubs would tie the game on a goal by Felix Darveau, and then would take a 3-2 lead only five and half minutes later off the stick of Frederick Linge. The momentum seemed to be in the Cubs favor, however Tim Parker would score a goal only thirteen seconds later with an assist from Loughlin. “That was a huge goal.” said Fontas. “Do we take a step back after we gave up an early lead or do we continue to fight? We fought. The kids had no quit in them and to answer back with a goal right of the ensuing face off was a huge momentum swing in our favor.”
The Stars celebrate Cam Mello's game third period goal.
Friday 9:20pm at the Ice Huts, Dracut, Ma. and Saturday 7:30pm, Hyannis, Ma. Come and Support the Stars in their quest of repeating as IJHL Champions as they take on the First Place Cape Cod Cubs in a two game weekend series.
Andrew Keegan in net for the Stars against the Dynamo
In Sunday’s game both teams had plenty of scoring chances, but with two seconds left in Overtime defensman, Colin Robb, made an errant pass in the defensive zone and a Dynamo player made no mistake and buried the game winning goal. “I hope they learn from this.” Said Head Coach Dan Fontas. “We played a great game and with six seconds left we had a mental breakdown and it cost us the game. Our three forwards were out of the defensive zone looking for a home run pass and we forced the pass, tuned it over and the other team capitalized. Our forwards should have never been in that position and our defensman should have never forced that pass. It is a learning lesson and I am positive it will make us a better team down the road.
Although Friday’s 7-2 loss did not sit well in the coaching staff’s stomachs this game was one of the Stars most complete games all season long. They executed their systems and competed hard in all aspects of the game. The communication was better and players played with passion and pride. “I expect this type of effort out of them. They cannot bring this effort every three or four games. They have to compete with this intensity and desire every night if the expect to have success.” said Fontas. This upcoming weekend the Stars will get back into league action and will face the First Place Cape Cod Cubs on Friday at 9:30pm at the Huts and will travel to Hyannis, Ma on Saturday for a 7:30pm game.
Tyle Little (left) scored the game winning goal from captain Zach Lubinksi Sunday night against the Blackhawks.
After taking a 2- 0 lead at the end of the first half, the Stars and Blackhawks would trade goals and Boston would eventually tie the score at three. However, Ty Little would score the game winning goal with just 1:10 seconds left in the game off a great feed from Zack Lubinski. “It was great.” Said Fontas. “We have been stressing mental toughness for the past few weeks. We showed it this evening. We did not quit and we took advantage of our opportunity. It was a great way to end the weekend.”
In earlier action the Stars fell victim to the first place Cape Cod Cubs by a score of 7-1. “It was not a great game for us from the start.” Fontas said. “We did not show enough grit and determination in the first half and good teams will take advantage of lack of mental lapses. We cannot give teams of their skill that many opportunities on the power play.” This weekend the Stars hope to keep their winning ways alive as they travel to Clifton Park, NY to take on the CP Dynamo. Game times are at 4:30pm on Saturday and 11:00 am on Sunday all being played at the Clifton Park Ice Rink.
Danny Loughlin scored the first two goals for the Stars
Bridgton would score the first goal of the game, but the Stars would answer back with a Danny Loughlin goal mid way through the first period. “Danny played great today.” Said Fontas. “His awareness away from the puck was outstanding.”
Bridgton would answer back and score the next two goals to take a 3-1 lead. However, Loughlin would score his second goal of the game off a rebound shot from Jeff Hall and the score would stand at 3-2 heading into intermission.
The Stars would continue their strong play and Mike Tavares would knot the score at three when he beat the Bridgton goalie high short side from the top of the right circle. “Mike made a great individual effort on the play. He has some good speed and he utilized it to his advantage to create some space coming down the wing.” This is as close as the Stars would come as they surrendered a goal with about 6 minutes left in the game to give Bridgton the 4-3 lead. “I am happy with the way we competed today. We played right until the final buzzer and we created a lot of high quality scoring chances. When someone made a mistake, they reacted and put their self right back into the play. We have not been doing that and it feels good to see guys starting to understand what it takes.” said Fontas. However, Can they keep this effort up? “They better. If they want success this is the only way we will get it. We need to sacrifice and commit. Time will tell.”
The Stars will face the Cape Cod Cubs tomorrow morning at 10:40am in Exeter where they hope to evenge a early season loss to the Cubs back in September.
Please view our NEW Travel Itinerary Page. It is located in the page column of our web site. You will be able to view all the Stars Road Trip criteria for all their overnight travel trips.
Jon-Michael Leach was named an Alternate Captain yesterday by his teammates and the coaching staff.
