After dropping its first game of the season by one goal to Bay State Conference foe Milton on Wednesday, Natick responded with a resounding win over Brookline.
NATICK — Saturday evening was a perfect night for the Natick boys hockey team to get back on track.
After dropping its first game of the season by one goal to Bay State Conference foe Milton on Wednesday, the Redhawks hosted BSC divisional crossover opponent Brookline at Chase Arena.
The Warriors entered having won just one game so far this season and Natick took full advantage, scoring three first-period goals and then riding it out for a 4-1 win.
Natick moves to 6-1-1 on the year while Brookline falls to 1-4-1.
"Give Brookline a lot of credit they played us very hard tonight, but this was a good win for us to get back on track," Natick coach Eric Kaplan said. "[Brookline] played very well and so did their goalie, but we worked hard tonight to make sure we got back on the winning track. "This was a good way for us to come off that tough loss."
Natick was actually a bit slow to start the game, but whenever the Redhawks had the puck in the Brookline zone, they were looking to strike early and often as Chris Burnes and Dillon Arno both nearly put home one-timers from one another a little less than two minutes apart.
Natick's first of three goals in the first period came with 6:10 left in the frame. Dillon Arno kept the puck in at the point and moved it towards the slot looking for his twin brother Al Arno. Al Arno was involved in a collision in the slot, and while Brookline goalie Felix Madsen-Hardy (32 saves) was preoccupied with the traffic, the puck harmlessly slid towards the left post where Burnes calmly tapped it in for the 1-0 lead.
The second and third goals in the frame were thanks to a bit of puck luck. With 1:01 left and the teams playing 4-on-4, Ryan Haswell found Jake Reisner near the net, Reisner spun and fired a shot that deflected off a defenseman's stick and into the net to make it 2-0. With just 17 seconds remaining, Jordan McCall fired a shot from the point that hit a body in front and dipped on Madsen-Hardy. Peter Manoli was given an assist as the Redhawks took the three-goal lead into the first intermission.
"We talked in the locker room about getting a fast start," said Kaplan. "We had a couple deflections, they weren't the nicest goals but they still counted."
"That first period was huge," added Dillon Arno. "Especially against a team that was outplaying us a bit for the first few minutes, they were grimy goals but we'll take them."
Natick dominated possession in the second period but had nothing to show for it as Madsen-Hardy stood on his head, making 12 saves in the 15-minute frame to keep it 3-0 heading to the third.
"It was pretty frustrating," Dillon Arno said of the scoreless second period. "We had a lot of really good chances, not just shots on net but some legitimate good scoring chances that we would've liked to have put home. [But] give their goalie credit he played a great game."
The Redhawks finally got another one past Madsen-Hardy with 14:19 left in the third period as Al Arno finished off a rebound following a rush up the right wing and an original shot by Dillon Arno.
With just 4:36 remaining, Brookline finally got on the board with a goal by Nick Dahlborg as he beat Bailey McElhinney (5 saves) high after McElhinney had come on in relief of starting goalie Mason Bailey (2 saves) to start the second period.
Now eight games into the regular season, the Redhawks seemed poised and ready to make the same type of playoff run they did a year ago, but players and coaches alike know there's still a long way to go.
"I think that Milton loss sort of set them straight a bit," said Kaplan.
"I think we've got a deep team," said Dillon Arno. "We've got a lot of guys we can count on and we're just going to keep working hard every day and see what happens."