U15 SPLIT - TIER 1: News

The Vipers used 3 third period goals to win from behind in this one 4-2. Showing a little bit of fatigue early on it took the visitors awhile to get going but they finally did for the important league win. Noah Maercklein from Brendan White would get the Vipers tied with a nice shot on the short side and the Vipers would be tied 1-1 after 2. The Crusaders jumped out to the 2-1 lead 3 minutes into the third and it looked bleak for the Vipes. The equalizer came on a pretty 2v1 with Maribito and Hentosh as Henny put some sauce on his pass over a defender onto Dante's stick who deked and slid the puck into the open side. Kyle Lynch would score the next two goals one set up by Hentosh and another on the PP set up on a beautiful give and go with Dante Maribito. Aaron McDonnell would get the call between the pipes in this one and was up to the task making a couple big saves at critical times. Alex Delvento would chip in with a nice game from the blueline and all 3 forward lines would grind it out in this one, The well coached Crusaders playing desperation hockey gave the Vipers all they could handle

The Vipers played what could have been their most complete game of the season in a 5-0 win in Exeter against the talented and very dangerous Spartans. The win locks up second place for the Vipers and gets them a first round bye in the playoffs. The Vipers would take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission as Ross Wahl (2-0-2)Â would pounce on a loose puck in front and deposit it far side for the pretty goal and the eventual game winner, Evan Daddario (0-2-2) and JT Chamberlain would add assists. Dante Maribito (1-1-2) from Kyle Hentosh would put the visitors out front 2-0 after 2. Nick Fiorentino would play a solid game between the pipes to keep this one close. The third period saw Noah Maercklein clean up a Steven Tettoni blast from the point on the Power Play for the 3-0 lead and then just 2 minutes later Kyle Lynch would push the lead to 4-0. Ross Wahl would cap a nice morning pouncing on another loose puck in the last minute for his second of the day. The Vipers used an intense forecheck to keep the Spartans hemmed in and in the D-Zone used an air tight team defense that limited the real scoring chances, and took full advantage of the iron as Nick was the beneficiary of a few posts. Christian Kukas and Steven Tettoni as well as the entire team played great team defense.

The 98 Vipers made the long trek to Connecticut to take on the Wolfpack and forgot to get out of the car when they got there as they mailed in a very lackluster performance. Kyle Lynch would score both goals and Dante Maribito and Kyle Hentosh would pick up the helpers.

The Vipers lacked urgency and intensity in this one as the Braves would score both goals within a minute after the Vipers would get their goals to earn the tie. The Vipers did enough to control long stretches of the game and hold an edge in the shot total but were not willing to get dirty and finish against the very talented Braves. Evan Daddario would finish off a nice play with JT Chamberlain and bury a wrister 5 hole for the first period lead, the Braves would answer less than a minute later to end the first tied at 1. Brendan White with assists from Alex Delvento and Noah Maercklein would give the Vipers the lead again in the second, only for them to cough it back up for the 2-2 tie

The 98s used 5 goals in the first 4 minutes of the second period to run away with this one as they swept the season series with the Cyclones with a 9-1 win. Brendan White had a big day chipping in with 2 goals and 2 assists, Noah Maercklein (0-3-3), Kyle Lynch (1-2-3) and Dante Maribito (2-1-3) would also have big days. The Vipers would also get 2 goals each from Evan Daddario and Braden Haley as the Vipers used their most balanced scoring attack of the season.Kyle Hentosh (0-2-2) was the other multiple scorer and Steven Tettoni, Patrick McCarthy, JT Chamberlain and Ross Wahl all added single helpers. Aaron McDonnell and Nick Fiorentino split the duties in the cage

The 98s would look for the sweep of the physical Glades on Sunday morning and did just that with a solid 3-0 win for the season sweep of the Glades. Aaron McDonnell would get the call between the pipes for this one and would turn in a solid effort for the home team, as both Viper goalies would turn in gems this weekend. Kyle Lynch would get the Vipers on the board in the first on the PP as the Vipers would execute a perfect face off play. Kyle Hentosh would slide a pass to Christian Kukas who would bang a one timer to the net that was saved but Lynchy was there to bang in the rebound, although not credited with an assist the play could not have been executed with out Dante Maribito winning the draw. Kyle Lynch would score his 2^nd of the game in the second as he would score an incredible shorty splitting the D and toe dragging the goalie and finishing upstairs for the 2-0 lead. Ross Wahl would score on a nice rebound goal in front as he was falling down, a very pretty goal that rewarded his line for a nice shift. Evan Daddario and JT Chamberlain picked up the helpers on that one. This one would get a bit chippy in the third but the Vipers would remain disciplined and stretch their record to 7-0-3 in their last 10 NEHL games. Christian Kukas would turn in maybe his finest effort all year from the blueline playing a very solid physical game. Steven Tettoni and Ryan Connearney also chipped in with solid efforts from the point

The 98s went on the road to face the once beaten and very strong Falcons, and despite winning the 5 on 5 battle 3-1 they tied the war 3-3 as the Falcons would score 2 PP goals in the second to earn the tie. The Falcons would jump out front quickly just over a minute into the game, but Dante Maribito (2-0-2) would tie the score as both his goals would be set up by Kyle Lynch (0-2-2) and Kyle Hentosh(0-2-2). The Falcons would go ahead with their first PP goal with 4 minutes left in the first, but with just 1 minute left tin the first the Vipers again tied the score on Maribitos second goal. The Falcons would go up 3-2 early in the second but just 16 seconds later the resilient Vipers would answer again as Noah Maercklein would take a feed from Brendan White and snap a wrister to the top corner as he was getting drilled to tie things up at 3. The third would belong to the keepers as both goalies would come up big, and Nick Fiorentino would continue his torrid pace and play lights out in the third period. The Vipers had the edge in the third period and were swarming the Falcons cage for the last 2:35 of the game but could not pop the game winner in. After a shaky first period the Viper D of Christian Kukas, Steven Tettoni, Aaron Dollin Ryan Connearney, Alex Delvento and Patrick McCarthy did a great job of stepping up and taking away time and space from the talented Falcon forwards.

In an excellent hockey game in Exeter the Spartans were able to tie the 98 Vipers 5-5 with a late goal in the third in a game that contained plenty of high intensity and end to end action. The Vipers used 5 different goal scorers in this one and scored the tying and go ahead goal just 9 seconds apart in the third after trailing 4-3 to begin the third. Aaron Dollin and Christian Kukas both scored from the point as well in this one, as Kyle Lynch (1-1-2) fed a nice pass out to Kukas for his goal. Braden Haley tied the game at 4 as he benefited from a sweet give by Brendan White from behind the net and Haley deposited it high into the net as the Rinks erupted with the tying goal, and just 9 seconds later after taking a feed from Dante Maribito on the half wall Lynchie walked in and roofed one under the bar to take the lead. Evan Daddario finished off a nice rebound to put the visitors up 2-1 going into the second period with JT Chamberlain picking up an assist. Alex Dlevento also picked up an assist giving him 4 points for the weekend. The story of the game had to be the excellent goaltending effort turned in by Nick Fiorentino all morning as he made many fine stops, his biggest on a breakaway with the score tied at 5 and just 45 seconds left in the game. Ryan Connearney, Steven Tettoni and Patrick McCarthy played solid on the blue line.

The Vipers used 3 goals in 2 minutes to open the third period to cruise past the Assabet Valley Patriots Saturday to a big win. The Green line of Dante Maribito (4-1-5), Kyle Hentosh (0-4-4) and Kyle Lynch (1-3-4) paced the attack as the Vipers are starting to regain a balanced scoring attack. Alex Delvento also chipped in with 2 goals (2-1-3) as he moved up to forward in this one. Brendan White also chipped in with 3 helpers. Evan Daddario and Ross Wahl (1-1-2) were the other goal scorers and Noah Maercklein (0-2-2), Steven Tettoni and JT Chamberlain all added assists. The Vipers got 2 goals on the power play and Maribito scored on a shorty breakaway. Nick Fiorentino and Aaron McDonnell split the time between the pipes and combined for the shutout win. Patrcik McCarthy, Steven Tettoni and Ryan Connearney chipped in with solid efforts on the blueline

The Vipers used scoring from all 3 lines for the second day in a row to skate past the Wizards at home on Sunday. Kyle Hentosh (2-3-5) and Dante Maribito (2-2-4) would pace the winners in this one and Noah Maercklein would chip in with 3 assists. Braden Haley (1-1-2), Brendan White (1-1-2), Evan Daddario and Kyle Lynch (1-1-2) would all add goals and JT Chamberlain would add a helper. Aaron McDonnell would chip in with a fine breakaway save to start the second period and the Vipers up only 3-1. Christian Kukas, Ryan Connearney and Steven Tettoni would add solid outings from the back end and Nick Fiorientino would finish up between the pipes.