skip navigation

Games of the Week: Stingrays at Eels

By Matthew Preston, 05/17/17, 1:30PM EDT

Share

Stingrays spoil Eels inauguration party, winning 3-of-4.

BEVERLY – On May 7, the New England Future Stars opened their 10th season of play and in doing so welcomed the league’s newest franchise, the Essex County Eels.

The birth of the franchise’s 10U, 12U, 14U and Varsity Division teams came at home – the Raymond J. Bourque Arena on the campus of Endicott College – where they took on their counterparts from the neighboring North Shore Stingrays. There was plenty of good to build off for the young franchise, but the day belonged to the Stingrays, as they posted a 3-1 record over the four contests.

10U Division

The 10U Division started the day and the Eels drew first blood with the first goal and first lead in franchise history coming just 4:08 into their existence. It was a lead that lasted until just after mid-period when Nolan O’Keefe recorded the Stingrays’ first goal of the season to tie the game 1-1.

Essex County was back on top before the opening frame’s end, making it 2-1 with 0:24 left on the clock before the first intermission. The Eels broke the tie in the final minute of the first, but the Stingrays brought it back to even in the first minute of the second. The score coming just 26-seconds after the period’s opening face-off.

North Shore brought the game back to even in the opening minute of the frame and then took their first lead of the contest in the final minute of the second, this a score from Frankie Annuziata with 30-seconds remaining.

Trailing 3-2 heading into the third period, the Eels offense was not yet done doing damage and there was to be more than three periods to be played in the Future Stars debut at Bourque Arena. An Eels’ goal at 2:29 of the third set a 3-3 tie that held through the end of regulation time.

North Shore scored on both of their shootout attempts to secure the 4-3, season opening win. Charlie Tingos coming through with the game-winning goal.

12U Division

In 2015, the Squirt North Shore Stingrays blazed their way to a Gold Cup Championship, riding a potent offense that posted 124 goals over the course of their regular season that summer.

The core of that championship Stingrays squad now comprises a 12U Eels team that made the move to Beverly for the 2017 season, but did not seem to leave any of their scoring in Revere. The Eels jumped on the Stingrays early, posting six in the game’s first period – four of which came from Daniel Storella – to help in coasting to a season opening victory.

Essex County piled on six in the first, five more in the second and two more in the third to round out their offense. Storella’s four led the goal-scorers, but Colby Durham’s six points (1G, 5A) was tops all around.

Jayden Vargas closed out the scoring in the third, his goal at 10:40 of the third breaking up the shutout to get the Stingrays on the board and finalize the game’s scoring.

14U Division

It took some time for the 14U Stingrays to find their legs at the start of their contest against the Eels, but they eventually picked up the pace and built a 2-0 lead just past the mid-period of the first period. Goals coming from Sean Connolly and Mike Locke.

Jack Viera had a late goal in the first to get the Eels on the board and bring them to within one at the first intermission, but Locke quickly brought the cushion back to two early in the second. The Stingrays forward making it 3-1 on a nice little backdoor tap-in less than a minute into the middle frame.

North Shore was relentless in their pursuit, but Essex County stood with their foe, never letting them get too far from their grasp. The teams traded goals over the remainder of the second period to put the score at 5-3 heading into the last of regulation.

The Eels held strong, but an early score – the second of two on the day from Declan Loughnane – and a big 5-on-3 penalty kill for a full 1:30 set the tone early in the third and all but sealed the contest for the Stingrays. Loughnane’s goal made it 6-3 where the score remained through the game’s conclusion.

Locke (2G, 2A) and Loughnane (2G, 1A) paced the day’s offense with four and three points, respectively. All three Eels scores came off a different stick, with Viera, Griffin Bouchard and Andrew Phillips credited with the goals for the home team.

Varsity Division

The 2017 Opening Day finale at Bourque featured the Varsity Division Stingrays and Eels. There was bonus hockey in the first game of the day and Bourque and at the onset of the third, it looked as though the day would wrap up in similar fashion with a Varsity shootout.

The contest played out fairly evenly through the first two periods. Kyle McKendry got the game’s scoring started in the first with a long-range shot that put the Eels up 1-0. The Stingrays power play then tied it up late in the second, leaving the game knotted at 1-1 heading into the final 15 minutes of regulation.

That 1-1 is where the score remained for much of the third period. While the Stingrays power play got them on the board in the second, it was not as fortunate in the third, the Eels penalty kill denying four straight attempts in the frame. North Shore still got the needed bounce late in the frame. John DiFilippo broke the deadlock with his score at 12:23, before Anthony Parziale chipped in the final goal of the day to close out the 3-1 Stingrays victory.