NORTH BILLERICA — The Tewksbury boys hockey team has played plenty of meaningful games in March over the last three seasons. That trend is going to continue for at least one more go-round.
Led by a pair of goals from KJ Andriolo and 24 saves from netminder Cole Abruzi, the second-seeded Redmen earned a second trip in three years to the Division 2 state final with a 5-3 win over No. 6 Westwood on Saturday night.
“These kids just want to play hockey. They want to win, and they wanted to go back to the Garden,” Tewksbury coach Derek Doherty said. “And now they’re able to. So it’s nice.”
The Redmen’s (22-1-1) top line of Tyler Bourgea, Andriolo and Jason Shreenan gave Westwood (20-3-1) fits right from the drop of the opening puck.
That chemistry was evident on the game’s opening tally when Andriolo was stationed at the right post and fired home Jake Cunha’s slap pass for a 1-0 lead at 4:12.
It stayed that way until Bourgea flashed his extraordinary talents with his team on the man advantage. Taking a Cunha pass in his own end, Bourgea dangled through three defenders before firing one past Sean Joyce for his 39th of the year and a 2-0 lead after one.
Any thoughts this might be another Redmen runaway were quickly erased by Westwood off the hop in the second. Just 18 seconds in, Luke Martin blasted home a Nolan Lewis rebound to cut the lead in half.
It began a seesaw middle 15 minutes as the team traded haymakers.
Four minutes after Martin’s goal, Michael Macauda restored the two-goal lead for Tewksbury with a bullet of a wrist shot from inside the left circle. The Wolverines weren’t done yet in the second as Connor Blaney’s 14th goal came on a rebound at 9:52, trimming the margin back to 3-2.
It looked like that was how the period was going to end until Aaron Sosa picked up a puck along the right wing wall. He turned and ripped a shot that was deflected on the way to Joyce and found its way home to make it a 4-2 game through thirty minutes.
“Aaron has a great shot and he just turned and fired and it goes in the net,” Doherty said. “It was great for that fourth line to get one for us.”
Even more critical for Tewksbury was that it followed Doherty’s advice in the second intermission and kept the hammer down.
Shreenan’s forechecking early in the third got the puck to Andriolo, who didn’t miss from the right faceoff dot to make it 5-2 with 11:24 left.
The Wolverines kept battling, pulling Joyce for an extra skater with three minutes left. Their perseverance finally paid off as Blaney scored with 1:25 left but they could get no closer.
“We worked hard (Saturday). I mean, we weren’t perfect tonight. But we worked hard, and I think that’s what got it done,” Doherty said.
