The Norwich Sea Captains dropped a 6-3 decision to the visiting Northeast Generals on Friday afternoon, October 8 at the RoseGarden Ice Arena in North American 3 Hockey League play. The Generals were powered by a hat trick from forward Sean Gorman and three assists from defenseman Tommy Lubin. Brendan Pellerito was outstanding in net for Norwich, making 42 saves, including a number of fantastic ones, to backstop the Sea Captains. Jack Kinahan scored twice and Ethan Ranger netted a goal and added a helper to power the Norwich offense.
A shorthanded goal by Gorman with 2:01 left to play in the opening period gave Northeast a 1-0 after 20 minutes. Ethan Ranger knotted the game 6:08 into the second period when his wrist shot beat the Generals goaltender into the lower far corner of the net on a two-on-one rush. Drew Schemmel and Matthew Ward earned assists on the goal. Northeast followed with tallies of their own in the middle period to stake themselves to a 3-1 lead after two periods despite some tremendous goaltending from Pellerito.
The Sea Captains did not go away easily however, as Kinahan scored his first of the afternoon 5:16 into the third period when he chased down a clear from Ben Cunningham on the penalty kill and unleashed a laser into the top corner of the net to cut the Northeast lead to 3-2. Pellerito earned the second assist on the goal. After two consecutive goals from the Generals to extend their lead, Kinahan struck again with 6:43 left to play making the score 5-3. Ethan Ranger won a wall battle and Harrison Ranger sent the puck toward the net before Kinahan redirected the puck through the Northeast goalie’s five hole. Gorman’s goal to complete his hat trick made the final margin 6-3 with just over five minutes left to play.
“I am very pleased with the energy and intensity that we played with today. Our guys played extremely hard and with persistence throughout the game. We made some mistakes that Northeast capitalized on; mistakes that I am very confident we will clean up quickly to give ourselves a better chance to have the successes that we want. Brendan Pellerito was fantastic in net the entire afternoon and it was great to see Jack Kinahan’s consistent hard work in practice get rewarded with his two goals today,” commented head coach Kevin Cunningham.
The Sea Captains travel to Holyoke, MA Saturday evening, October 9 to visit the Bay State Bobcats. The puck is scheduled to drop at 6:30 PM. If you cannot get to the Fitzpatrick Ice Skating Rink the game will be available on HockeyTV.