The Vipers extended their NEHL winning streak to 14 games with an 8-3 victory over the Seacoast Spartans at home on Saturday. The Vipers raced out to a 5-0 lead by scoring 3 goals in the last 2 minutes of the first period, and 2 more quick ones in the first 2 minutes of the second period to stretch their lead to 6-1. The line of Brendan White (1-1-2), Braden Haley (0-2-2) and JT Chamberlain (3-0-3, first Viper Hatty) would lead the charge in this one as both Whitey and JT would score off nice individual rushes. The Green line of Kyle Hentosh (1-1-2), Kyle Lynch (1-2-3) and Dante Maribito (0-1-1) would have a nice afternoon and Evan Daddario would get the eventual game winner while linemates Noah Maercklein (0-1-1) and Ross Wahl (1-1-2), one off a fine finish of a 1v2 rush would also hit the sheet. Steven Tettoni (0-2-2), Patrick McCarthy and Alex Delvento would all pick up helpers from the blue line. Zach Laramie and Aaron McDonnell would split the duties between the pipes for the victory.
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The Vipers won twice. Dave Melanson scored the winner with 38.5 seconds remaining, Sal Costanzo assisted on five goals and Rob Tibbets wore the hat in a 6-5 decision over the Glades, who got a goal and an assist apiece from Tom Samuelson and Brendan Green - and Kasey O'Brien scored twice, Tibbets had 1-1-2 and Connor Crovo two assists in a 6-1 victory over Seacoast;
King wore the hat, M. Herdiech scored twice, Valade and Carrado both had1-1-2 and D. Herdiech added two assists as the Red Rangers beat Seacoast, 10-2 - JJ New-Ouellet with both goals in the loss; Samuelson wore the hat and Eli Rivers had 1-1-2 as the Glades beat the Blazers, 5-1; Jason Bogacz scored twice, Pat Maloney and Danny Bears both had 1-1-2 and Nathan Andrew posted two assists as the Monarchs beat the Cyclones, 5-2; and the Blazers edged the Advantage, 3-2.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sal Costanzo, Vipers
It wasn't pretty and it didn't come with their best effort but the Vipers cashed in on a late power play goal to beat league rival Nashua Panthers 2-1 thus giving the Vipers the season series sweep. The Vipers would trail 1-0 after the first period which they never seemed to come out of the Locke for as the home team was able to cash in on a turnover. The Vipers seemed to regain some swagger in the second half of the second period and got out of the second tied at 1-1 as Kyle Hentosh fed Kyle Lynch with a terrific pass from behind the net for the tie. This one stayed tied late until the Vipers went on the power play late in the third and with just under 4 minutes left Kyle Lynch made an excellent backdoor pass with sauce from the sidewall to Dante Maribito, and all Dante had to do was tap it into the wide open net on a beautifully executed power play winning goal. The Visitors got timely scoring, good goaltending from Zach Laramie and good team defense when it needed it most, but the overall effort was a little discouraging as the Vipers would like to be playing their best hockey down the stretch
The 98's scored 23 goals for and did not give up a single goal in all 6 games, an absolutly amazing feat, in going 6-0 and winning the Championship with a 3-0 victory over the much improved Red Rangers. A power play strike from the point of Aaron Dollin's stick got the #1 seed off on the right foot and a 1-0 lead. Braden Haley sent Evan Daddario in alone and he beat the goalie for a 2-0 lead and Kyle Lynch and Kyle Hentsoh would hook up on a pretty 2 on 1 power play goal to put this one out of reach. The story of the tournament is obviously the commitment to 3 zone play for the entire weekend, and solid goaltending by Aaron McDonnell and Zach Laramie as the Vipers smothered teams with an impressive show of TEAM Defense, mostly giving up 8 shots or less in most of their games. In the last 15 games for the Vipers they have outscored their opponents 76-12, an astounding +64 goal differential. The Vipers return to NEHL action this weekend with games against the Pro Ambition and The Monarchs.
In a well played game by both teams the Vipers squeaked out a 2-0 win over a well coached Top Gun Elite team with 2 third period goals. Both Zach Laramie and Top Gun goaler Kyle Martin did everything they could in this one to keep goals at a premium but it was the Vipers who struck first as Dante Maribito fired an off-angle shot from the wall that eluded the Top Gun tender for the 1-0 lead, that went down as an unassisted power play goal. The 2 goal keepers exchanged incredible 2 save set sequences immediately after another in this exciting back and forth game. The Vipers defense led by Steven Tettoni, Patrick McCarthy, Aaron Dollin, Ryan Connearney, Alex Delvento and Christian Kukas buckled down as the game wore on and did a fine job in their own end. The Vipers would bang home an insurance goal with about 2 minutes left in this one as Noah Maercklein would pounce on a loose puck in front and pop it in over the shoulder of the goalie, Maribito and JT Chamberlain also picked up assists on that goal. The Vipers now advance to the Championship game against league rival Red Rangers.
In their best effort of sometime the 98s put up a 3-0 win over CP Dynamo and an extremely good goaltender. The Vipers only gave up a single shot on net while shift after shift flooding the opposition cage with pucks. Evan Daddario would get the Vipes on the board with help from Ross Wahl and Noah Maercklein, Jt Chamberlain would then up the lead to 2-0 in the second with a beautuful wrister that clanged off the post and in as Braden Haley picked up the helper on that on and finally in the 3rd Kyle Lynch from Kyle Hentosh and Ryan Connearney put the finishing touches on this one. Zach Laramie cashed in with the shutout as the Vipers continue to play a nice brand of 3 zone hockey and finish the round robin play with 0 GA. They will now take on Top Gun Elite in the Semi-Finals.
The 98 Vipers opened play in the Top Gun Invitational against a familiar foe in the Red Rangers and squeaked out a 2-0 victory thanks to some solid goaltending by Zach Laramie. The Vipers continue to fight off the rust of a pretty quiet few weeks and made their share of mental errors and miscues, not doing the little things they need to do to be an elite team. Kyle Lynch kicked of the scoring for the Vipers with a great individual rush down the right side, cutting to the middle then lifting a back hand up under the bar for a very pretty goal. It would be the goalies from each side that would steal the spotlight the rest of the way. The line of Noah Maercklein, Evan Daddario and Ross Wahl would be the Vipers best line consistently as Evan Daddario played a solid game. With about 3 minutes left in the game the Vipers would go on the Power play for the first time of the game and JT Chamberlain would get off a quick shot in the slot that would find the back of the net for the insurance tally, Daddario and Maercklein would pick up the helpers on the big goal. Ryan Connearney, Steven Tettoni, Dom Cappadona, Patrick McCarthy, Aaron Dollin and Alex Delvento and Christian Kukas all chipped in with fine games from the blueline.
Again it took the Vipers a bit longer to get going but they are slowly getting back into form as they rolled past the Pirates 5-0. The Vipers displayed complete dominance and control as the Pirates could only muster 3 shots on net or so as the Vipers consistently applied pressure in the other end. Finally it took one shift from Evan Daddario (2-0-2), Ross Wahl, Noah Maercklein (0-2-2), Patrick McCarthy(1-0-1) and Ryan Connearney to put the Vipers up 2-0. The first came on an absolute rocket from Daddario who has turned his game up a notch as he let a laser go from just inside the blueline that broke off the goalies stick, Ryan Connearney(0-2-2) and Ross Wahl picked up the assists with some good neutral zone transition. The second was a greasey goal from Daddario as he jammed in a rebound, but the play was started with another fine play of the stick of Connearney as he made a good read and play at the blueline. Alex Delvento would stretch the lead to 3-0 as he jumped up into a rush by Kyle Hentosh and Kyle Lynch and he was able to pick up the garbage with another dirty goal. Patrick McCarthy from the point and Dante Maribito through traffic would round out the scoring in this one. Aaron McDonnell had a relatively easy time of it between the pipes making a handful of saves
The Vipers used 3 first period goals, 2 of them 40 seconds apart to skate past Top Gun Non-Elite 8-0 at the Top Gun Invitational. The Vipers again got contributions from all 3 lines in this effort as well as another steady peformance on the blue line. Evan Daddario (2-1-3) Kyle Lynch (1-2-3) Dante Maribito (2-1-3), and Noah Maercklein (1-2-3) all had 3 point games as Daddario continues to be red hot. Kyle Hentosh and Ross Wahl both chipped in with 2 assists. Patrick McCarthy also got on the board with a pretty individual effort for the goal. The Vipers have not given up a goal in the first 3 games of the tournament as Aaron McDonnell did his part between the pipes to keep the streak alive. The Vipers next take on CP Dynamo as they chase a #1 seed for the playoffs