RAYNHAM – It is a story that had been similarly written before. The Natick Chill and Southeastern Grizzlies once again playing for the New England Future Stars Varsity Gold Cup Championship.
In 2015, the two teams met at the Raynham IcePlex, the Chill overcoming their playoff ghosts from the year before to come away with a 4-1 victory. Nearly a year to the day later, they were back at it on August 14 on the same Raynham IcePlex ice. This time it was the Grizzlies looking to exercise their own demons, but they were unable to thwart Natick’s quest to go back-to-back. The Chill coming away with the Cup in a 3-2 win.
Just 14 seconds.
That is all it took for the Chill to turn the 2016 title bout in their favor, Alex Arno putting the defending champs up 1-0 straight off the game’s opening faceoff.
“To come out like that and have a huge goal to start the game 14 seconds in? Huge momentum shift for us,” said Chill head coach Mike Heyde. “It was a big lift that we needed.
“We’re very evenly matched and I think that was a big time goal for us to start out 1-0.”
Things were in their favor early, but with 44:46 remaining in regulation, the championship was from secure for the Chill against their nemesis. Twice the two teams had played during the regular season, each side winning once; the only loss either team suffered prior to the finale. Arno’s score remained the only for the first period, each side going on to contain their opponent well in the defensive end.
Scoring picked up in the second period. With their championship window coming to a close, the Grizzlies struck first in the middle frame. Tyler Nestor credited with the score at 4:17 of the second, a shot that seemed to take an awkward bounce past Natick netminder Mason Bailey to tie the game.
The game was tied early in the second and would be that way by period’s end as well, each side netting one more in the middle frame. Arno once more gave his side a one-goal advantage. His goal coming at 9:02, 1:51 before Brendan Shea netted the Grizzlies second of the day. The Varsity Gold Cup Championship was headed to its final 15 minutes of regulation time tied at 2-2.
From start to finish, it was an impressive season for the Chill, a team built without many weaknesses. They did end the regular season with one less goal scored than the Grizzlies for the division lead, but one thing that set Natick apart from the competition throughout the season was seemingly an ability to always get the needed goal at the right time.
“The timeliness of them is unbelievable,” Heyde said. “When we need a big goal, one of our players will step up. Doesn’t matter who it is, could be any one on our team to get the goal.”
With less than half a period to play, that player to step up was Matthew Sullivan, who put away the go ahead goal on a low-angle one-timer at 8:57, a power play score. There were chances down the stretch – including an offensive zone draw with 0:18.6 on the clock and the goaltender pulled – but it was not to be the Grizzlies day. The final 6:03 elapsing with Sullivan’s remaining as the game-winner.
The Natick Chill claimed the 2016 Varsity Gold Cup Championship with a 3-2 victory over the Southeastern Grizzlies.
