RAYNHAM – It was amongst the finest games the New England Future Stars saw this season when the then 11-0-0 Peewee Raynham Raiders met the then 11-0-0 North Shore Stingrays on the final day of the regular season. A tight game coming down to its final minute before Shaun Fitzpatrick scored the Raiders a 2-1 win.
Just seven days later, the two sides met again, the second meeting ending in a little more decisive fashion as Raynham capped off their perfect season with an 8-3 victory and a 2015 Gold Cup Championship.
It was the first title in Raiders history.
Just one late period goal separated the Raiders and the Stingrays in the regular season, as was the case in the first period of Sunday’s championship. The two were scoreless until mid-period when Gage Lonergan ducked past a few defenders and unleashed a wrist shot from just beneath the tops of the circles to give Raynham a 1-0 lead.
It was a lead that lasted all of 38-seconds, Eric Toto knotting the game at 1-1 at 7:58 of the first period. That is where the score stayed until 11:03 when a Kirk Leach feed found its way to PJ Arena alone on the back post, who touched it in for a 2-1 Raynham lead into the break.
“It was a very tight game,” said Raiders co-coach Jamie Lockwood. “We knew it was going to be very competitive. The Stingrays have no quit in them and I told the boys that we were going to have to play our game and dictate the pace.
“…[The Stingrays] were a very, very competitive team from start to finish.”
The Raiders were in front for much of the contest, but the lead never seemed safe through much of the first two periods. The teams so evenly matched, every time Raynham looked to be pulling away, North Shore snapped right back.
Raynham’s 2-1 lead grew to 4-1 on a pair of quick strikes early in the second, but a shorthanded score by Henry Wilson at 5:53 cut the lead to 4-2. The Raiders finally seemed to be making headway on closing out their foe when Ben Sarantopoulos scored to make it 5-2 late in the second, but a second score from Wilson came with just 0:02.8 remaining in the middle period, the outcome was seemingly in doubt once again.
Yet, when the third period came, the Fates showed favoring the Raiders as the pucks started bouncing their way through traffic into the back of the Stingrays net.
“Before the game, I talked to the wings about getting a little bit more of a net-front presence,” Lockwood said. “[The Stingrays] have two very good goaltenders, so I think we took their eyes away from them a little bit and that led to more pucks in the back of the net.”
The lead was back to three, 6-3, at 3:13 of the third when Matt Beane got a stick on a puck headed towards the net, getting enough on it to get it across the goal line. A similar situation befalling the Stingrays at 8:49, this time Ryan Concannon getting a stick on the puck to make it 7-3.
Arena’s second of the contest at 10:50 closed out the 8-3 championship victory.
“I asked every boy, ‘after every shift, come back to the bench winded,’” Lockwood said. “Every kid, from the first man on the roster to the last man on the roster, gave his best effort every shift and that was really the difference.
“…Coaches can steer them in the right direction, but it comes down to their ability and sacrifice for one another on the ice.”
The Raiders’ championship team effort was rounded out with six different goal scorers in the eight goal outing and eight different Raynham players total credited with at least a point. The goaltending battery of Dave Pacella and Oliver Lamadieau also combined to backstop the victory in the Raider net.
