Brockton was unable to pull it all together as it fell to King Philip, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon at Asiaf Arena.
One step forward, two steps back.
Brockton was unable to pull it all together as it fell to King Philip, 4-3, in a high school boys hockey game on Saturday afternoon at Asiaf Arena.
The Boxers (5-5-1, 1-0) were leading 2-1 in the second period, but King Philip scored two goals in the final 1:13 of the frame, the second of which came with one second remaining, which was certainly a momentum shift to give the visitors the 3-2 edge entering the third.
“That’s a killer, whenever you allow a goal at the end of the period, that’s a momentum shift for the other team,” Brockton head coach Chris Cunningham said. “I don’t know if they were watching the clock, if they knew how much time was left. I thought we could have played a little bit better and not giving them the angle there.”
KP’s Gavin Maxwell took advantage of a rebound from a Mike Curtin shot to tie things up at 2-2 before Ryan Fitzpatrick scored his second tally of the contest with one second remaining.
Trailing 3-2 in the third, Brockton had two power-play opportunities but could not capitalize.
“In the zone, I thought we had a couple of opportunities and their goaltender (Shane Frommer, 13 third-period saves) came up with some big (stops),” Cunningham said. “On the breakout, I thought we were a little sloppy, we seemed to be forcing it a bit, we kind of got out of our rhythm and then we were holding our sticks tight. ... All the credit to their goaltender, we had a 2-on-1 in the period and he made an unbelievable save.”
To make matters worse, King Philip added what turned out to be some much-needed insurance, as it found the net on a 2-on-0 breakaway with Joe Boselli hammering the puck in the net off an assist from Curtin toi put the visitors up 4-2 with 6:13 left.
To Brockton’s credit, it responded pretty quickly, as senior defenseman Zack Sylvia (two goals, assist) cut the deficit to one by scoring from the blue line with 5:39 left to give the hosts a chance to tie it up before KP came out with the victory.
“It was kind of an even period, and it looked like if you get one (goal) then you can sort of battle it out that last couple minutes for the win,” Cunningham said. “The fourth (goal) was really the nail in the coffin.”
Sylvia scored the game’s first goal in the opening period by making a shifty move to his right just inside the blue line to light up the lamp after firing a wrist shot.
“Zack Sylvia was involved in all three goals,” Cunningham said. “ He battled through. ... He’s mentally tough.
“He had a broken skate blade out there and he made adjustments and no one out there probably even knew,” Cunningham said. “It was bothering him, but he made adjustments and he still made plays. That just shows his character. He battles through adversity, he doesn’t say much, he just works hard all the time and he’s a good role model for the rest of the guys.”
KP stormed right back as Fitzpatrick found the net just 40 seconds later at 9:03 to tie things up at 1-1.
Brockton’s Jalen Bridges gave his team its only lead when he tipped in a shot by Sylvia from the blue line to give the hosts the 2-1 lead with 4:27 remaining before things fell apart.
John O’Callaghan may be reached at jocallaghan@enterprisenews.com.