North Devils Middle School Black takes Back to Back to Back Championships!!

How do you spell team?  D-E-V-I-L-S.  With undoubtedly their best performance of the season, the North Devils Middle School Black squad dominated the Norton Lancers, 4-0, and took the Bronze Division Championship in the Foxboro Sports Center Junior High School League.

Throughout the playoffs, goaltender Chris Ulrich was spectacular in net keeping the Devils squad in every game.  In the Championship game he posted his second straight playoff shutout with a solid performance between the pipes.  Ulrich made a couple big saves in the game, but the team defense was the story as Norton did not get many quality scoring chances.  Steven Sharpe, Jeff Baker, Brett Labonte, and Jack Cullen all played outstanding defense.  Each and every one of these blueliners made a critical stop on a break-in, or a quick clear in front of the net, to limit Norton’s opportunities.  When needed, the Devils forwards came back in waves on the backcheck to support the defense and contribute to the shutout performance.

The first period was fast paced and had action at both ends of the rink.   Three minutes into the second period, North broke the scoreless tie as Drew Wissler scored the first of his three goals in the game.  Gathering the puck in his defensive zone, Wissler weaved through the Norton squad on an end-to-end rush capped with wrist shot in close to beat the goalie on the stick side.   North owned the second period as all the pressure was on the Norton defense.  After a strong penalty kill led by Nick Gugliotta’s tenacious forecheck, North ramped up the offense.  Nick Sinacola, Morgan Mordini and Luke Madden worked well down low and created numerous scoring chances.  Late in the period Wissler intercepted a Norton pass and split two defenders to streak in on the left side and snap a wrist shot high glove side to extend the lead.  Then, as time was expiring in the period, Wissler grabbed the puck in the neutral zone and fired a wrist shot from the blueline past the Norton goaltender as time expired.

In the third North got off to a good start, but had to hold off a couple of Norton surges.  Jack Connolly and Jake Ebert provided outstanding forecheck and backcheck support to keep Norton at bay.  With Norton putting on the pressure, North’s first line of Todd Robinson, Anthony Zammiello and Wissler worked their tenacious offensive zone forecheck to keep the Lancers from breaking out of their zone.  Wissler kept the puck in at the blueline, and fed a pass to Zammiello, who drove into the slot and snapped in North’s fourth goal to secure the win, 4-0.  The most impressive part about this game was the way North executed a total team effort.   Their compete level was maxed out from the first drop of the puck until the final horn.  The team played their positions well, made good, smart decisions all night and supported each other with outstanding passing and team defense.  They truly earned this victory and the Bronze Division Championship!