PRENDA CUP SEMIFINALS: Diman falls 7-6

FALL RIVER- In an action-packed affair at the Driscoll Ice Arena Wednesday night, the Apponequet Regional High School Lakers got the best of the Diman Bengals, 7-6, in the semi-final of the annual Prenda Cup.

Apponequet will face Durfee or Somerset Berkley in the championship game on Saturday at Driscoll.

“It was back and forth, but being down early and battling back all game put yourself in a tough spot, but good to see that the boys got fight in them to battle back,” Diman coach Lenny Dutra said.

Jordan Crowley and Gage Minior both scored twice for Diman.

From the start, the Lakers wasted little time in getting on the board as senior captain Zach Lovendale went down ice and put one past Diman goalie Zach Medeiros to give the hosts the lead with 14:03 remaining.

However, Diman had different plans and responded just 11 seconds later as Pete Moniz Jr. came down the pipe to best Apponequet goalie Carson McGrath for his first high school goal to draw the Bengals even.

Lovendale found the back of the net again with 12:57 remaining as Michael Sweet and Andrew Cummings set him up in front of goal to beat out Medeiros and retake the lead.

However, as with the previous Laker lead, it lasted less than a minute as Minior took it down ice on his own to put it past the Apponquet net minder only 44 seconds later.

The game established itself as a hard-hitting affair early on, with both teams letting their physical presence be known, especially around the in and around net. Diman’s Adam Gillet was called for hooking with 10:46 left in the penalty, giving the hosts their first power play opportunity of the game, but the Bengals would kill it.

Fellow Apponequet senior captain Collin Barroso put his team back in the lead with help from Lovendale, who fed him in the crease before Barroso put it to the right past Medeiros’ blocker with 6:25 left.

Both teams would see players head to the sin bin in the final five minutes of the first period, but only the Lakers were able to capitalize as while Jordan Crowley was in for high sticking, Cummings pushed it past a crouching Medeiros’ pads to double their lead with 3:00 left in the period, one which they carried into intermission.

Less than a minute into the second period, Crowley lit the lamp as he snuck it past McGrath’s left blocker 50 seconds in to make it 4-3, and a few minutes later, he found the back of the net yet again as he came up the left wing and sniped a shot into the top left corner to draw Diman even with 10:51 remaining in the middle period.

But as was the case all night, the Lakers found a way to get back in. Just 1:50 later, Apponequet retook the lead as Brett Moniz put one past the goaltender from the crease to make it 5-4.

The action went back and forth as both sides battled for control of the puck, however the Bengals fortunes took a turn for the worse as Gillet was assessed a five-minute major for a hit to the back along the boards with 3:41 left in the period.

Nolan Jean was able to draw the Bengals back even on a shorthanded goal as he put it through the five hole on McGrath with 2:15 left, however Brett Stevens would go down ice and do the same to Medeiros just 17 seconds later to put the Lakers up 6-5, a lead they’d never relinquish.

“That five-minute penalty killed us,” Dutra said. “You got to stay out of the box.”

Apponequet added one more goal while the Bengals were shorthanded as Lovendale, fed by Barroso and Ethan Harrop, completed the hat trick with a snipe to the top left corner 36 seconds before the break, giving them a 7-5 lead to take back to the locker room.

The final period of the high-scoring affair saw only one goal between the two teams, as a high sticking call on Apponequet’s Ryan Legault with 8:26 left set up a Bengals power play which Minior capitalized on with a hard shot into the top left corner past goalie Owen Cabral, who replaced McGrath for the third, with 7:55 remaining.

However, the comeback effort for Diman for fall short in the end as the Lakers held on to their goal lead and advanced to the Prenda Cup final.

“Tap of the pads to Apponequet’s goaltenders, their team and their coaching staff, they battled tonight,” Dutra said.