Junior Varsity Hockey vs. FCHA Bantam A

The Junior Varsity hockey team opened their season on Friday night with a match against local rival Franklin County Youth Hockey Association (FCHA)'s Bantam A's. The FCHA team was strong and had many games under their belt; and on the other side, the Eagles were coming off a few days of tryouts and 4 days of practice. The game started out with a ferocious pace, with both teams racing up and down the ice. Despite the effort by the Eaglebrook squad, they were struggling to link passes and get scoring chances, conversely, the FCHA team was playing "cleaner" hockey and was able to bury a puck in the back of the net towards the end of the first period. As the game progressed, the Eagles tightened up their passing and moved the puck cleanly around the offensive zone leading to a nice shot from the point and a skillful tip for their first goal. This goal caused an eruption of cheering by the large crowd of spectators, but this did not faze the FCHA boys and they quickly slid another goal past the Eaglebrook keeper. From this point on it was a back-and-forth game with both goalies making big saves, but no change in score. It seemed like time was running out for Eaglebrook, but with 6 minutes left the Eagles took off on a 2-on-1 rush and capitalized on a masterful pass across the crease and a beautiful finish to tie the game. Three minutes later the same Eaglebrook player made a similar pass to the back post that was slammed into the goal. The FCHA squad dug down deep and threw everything they could at Eaglebrook, but the goalie stood strong and preserved the win. The Eagles hope to carry this momentum into their game on Saturday against the Pope Francis Prep JV team.