Brunswick knew a thing or two about winning as the underdog by the end of the Martin/Earl (large-school) championship. However, its third win of the postseason was significantly more difficult than the first two. Consecutive shutout wins at Williston and Northfield-Mount Hermon helped the Bruins advance to the championship game. And for a while, it...
Brunswick knew a thing or two about winning as the underdog by the end of the Martin/Earl (large-school) championship. However, its third win of the postseason was significantly more difficult than the first two.
Consecutive shutout wins at Williston and Northfield-Mount Hermon helped the Bruins advance to the championship game. And for a while, it looked as if the final would be a breeze. Ron VanBelle’s team led 3-1 heading into the final period, but Thayer stormed back to force overtime.
That set the stage for Williams College commit Jack Forrest (Ridgefield, Conn.) to score the game-winning goal 6:40 into the extra session for a 4-3 triumph.
"Senior leadership got us here," said VanBelle, "and senior leadership brought it home."
While Brunswick had some very good players, it was a considerable feat to knock off the Tigers and their vaunted first line led by potential first-round draft pick Jay O’Brien (Hingham, Mass.)
While Brunswick finished on top, O’Brien did manage to pot two goals in the final game of his magnificent prep career. The Providence College recruit finished the season averaging nearly three points per game. Northeastern recruit Aidan McDonough (Milton, Mass.) had the other marker for Tony Amonte’s Tigers.
Unheralded Tom Richter (Greenwich, Conn.) had a goal and an assist in the victory. Dartmouth commit Christian LeSueur (Greenwich, Conn.) and Nick Boardman (Greenwich, Conn.) also scored for the Bruins.
Dan Dachille (Greenwich, Conn.) stopped 27 shots for the victory. "Dan played great and put us in a position to win every playoff game," VanBelle said.
Perhaps the biggest winner of the day for the Bruins was junior defenseman Cooper Moore, who was tremendous protecting Dachille. He picked up considerable college interest because of the game.
Brunswick didn’t have as many superstars as Thayer or some of the other teams in the tournament, but the Bruins had a lot of very good Division 3 prospects who played well together.
