RAYNHAM – They played 14 games.
They won all 14.
They scored more than eight goals per game. The division’s best offense.
They gave up less than one. The league’s best defense.
It was a season of dominance for the Bantam South Middlesex Coyotes, but that did not stop from a climactic finish on Sunday at the Raynham IcePlex. In their most contested match of the year, the Coyotes overcame a relentless Norfolk County Hawks squad to score a 2-1 victory, capping their perfect season with the New England Future Stars’ 2015 Bantam Gold Cup Championship.
It was a familiar position for the Hawks to be in when they took the ice in Raynham and not just in comparison to the week before when they had closed out their regular season schedule against the Coyotes. Norfolk County was in Raynham a year ago, having also earned a berth in the 2014 Bantam Gold Cup Championship where they faced a similarly vaunted North Shore Stingrays team.
And much like a year ago, not only did the Hawks not back down and give their undefeated opponent one of their best games of the year, but once again they went out and took the first lead of the Bantam championship. At 2:40 of the opening period, the Norfolk County power play converted on their first and only opportunity, a Max Ward offering finding its into the back of the Coyotes net for the 1-0 advantage.
From there, the Hawks brought a physical presence to disrupt a Coyotes’ attack that scored six against them just seven days prior. Possession favored South Middlesex, but Norfolk County was unwilling to let them establish themselves on their side of the ice throughout the opening period.
South Middlesex did fair better carrying play in the offensive zone in the second, at times peppering Norfolk County netminders Trevor Callahan and Chris Cataldo, who split the game in net for Norfolk County. The Coyotes were relentless, but the Hawks backend even more so as the 1-0 score held through the duration of the middle period.
Based on South Middlesex’s strong ability to possess the puck, there was an air about the game as it crossed its midpoint that if the Coyotes could manage to slip just one past the Hawks goaltending, the goals would come. Norfolk County, however, had a different idea, and continued in lockdown into the final regulation period.
“Basically, I had to tell them to take their time,” Coyotes coach Dom Pazzia said after the game. “[The Hawks] were getting under their skin.
“Lot of shots, goalies played great on both ends. I told the boys, ‘don’t worry, the bounce will come.’ They got a lucky bounce early on. We just kept fighting back, fighting back and eventually we put one in.”
The bounce Pazzia hoped for came just over a minute into the third period. After a nice, left pad save by Cataldo, the puck found its way to Max Giardina, who put the rebound off the post and in for the 1-1 equalizer.
Giardina’s skill came through again 1:30 later as the South Middlesex forward battled his way through multiple defenders, managing to just chip the puck past the keeper and in as he fell to the ice. The goal at 2:40 of the third giving the Coyotes their first lead of the championship.
“I would have liked a little bit more cushion there, but I’ll take the 2-1,” Pazzia said. “I’m happy with that.
“…I have a great group of kids here put together and we roll with it.”
Unfortunately for the Hawks, history once again repeated itself. The South Middlesex lead held over the game’s final 12:20, the title match coming to a close at 2-1, the first one-goal decision involving the Coyotes all season.
