By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
Managing Editor
Hampus Samuelsson led the boys’ hockey team to an 8-1 win over previously undefeated Northeast Metro on Tuesday night. Samuelsson scored a hat trick to spark the offense that piled on the goals in the second and third periods as the Lions earn the No. 2 ranking in Division 3 in the state.
“In those types of games it’s important to stay disciplined and not get into bad habits which I thought we did a good job of staying away from,” junior Thomas Tresca said. “We know that we have to play our best every game [and] we need to improve every game and keep moving forward as a team.”
Samuelsson scored the first of his goals in the first period to give the Lions a 1-0 lead to start off the game. Despite a few more chances, the score would remain at that until the end of the period.
Sophomore Sergey Bezrukov ignited the high-powered South offense in the second period with a goal of his own, making the score 2-0.
Senior Nick DiNisco quickly followed up Bezrukov’s goal with another one that found the back of the net, raising the lead to 3-0.
South skaters had opportunities around the net all night, fighting for position to capitalize on any rebound that would come their way.
Senior Sean Hart would not let up after the Lions established their lead, putting one away on an assist by Bezrukov to bring the lead to 4-0. Samuelsson scored his second goal of the night on yet another rebound to close out the second period with a 5-0 South lead.
Both offenses were shut out for the first half of the third period, as both goalies saved multiple shots to motivate their teams to keep grinding until the final whistle.
Senior Eddie Freedman joined in on the action, pushing the puck on the break to give himself a one on one chance at scoring a goal on the opposing goalie. Freedman promptly made the score 6-0.
Despite the large lead more than halfway through the period, the Lions kept pushing to make sure they secured the win against the Knights. Senior Griffin Connolly added a goal to push South’s lead to 7-0 before getting sent to the penalty box.
The Knights took advantage of this chance on the power play to end the shutout and make the score 7-1. Humpus would then score his final goal of the night, giving him the hat trick, to bring the lead to 8-1, where it would remain until the end of the game.
The Lions move to 4-1 on the season and will look to continue their recent success against Lowell on Jan. 2. The Lions have scored at least seven goals in each of their last two games.
“Being ranked so highly in the division is a special thing because it has never happened before for a South hockey team,” Tresca said. “So we know that this season can be a special one.”
