The Sachems had their hands full in Stoneham as the Spartans (0-2) mounted a comeback late in the third period, but it wasn't enough as Winchester (2-0) prevailed 5-4.

"We need to do a better job of coming to play," said Sachem head coach, Matt Spang. "There are no excuses, not even an earlier start. We need to compete on a nightly basis."           

It was a very physical game with numerous penalties handed out to each team. During the second period, the Sachems tallied nine penalties to only two for the Spartans.

"The way we killed the penalties was huge," Spang said. "I would say that was one of the only positives that came out of tonight."

The scoring started at the 11:07 mark when Sachem's senior Colin Edwards tickled the twine. It looked like the Sachems were off and running again, but two minutes later Stoneham's Michael Kelley ripped a shot past Sachem's net minder Jed Robinson on the one-man advantage to tie the game. The goal was assisted by Scott Shannon. 

The Sachems responded two minutes later when Matt Gehrig was set up by Mark Martignetti and David Troiano making it 2-1 in favor of the Sachems. 

Nearing the end of the first period, the Sachems went on a power play and capitalized with less than a minute left making it 3-1 to close out the first as Nolan Redler scored off an assist from Colin Edwards.

The Spartans inched closer in the third period scoring on a short-handed goal by Kelley at 12:04.  But again the Sachems responded with another power play goal at the 10:16 mark. Again, it was Redler giving the Sachems a 4-2 edge. The Spartans fought throughout the afternoon and with a little less than four minutes remaining, Stoneham scored two goals in a span of 16 seconds to tie the game and leave the Sachems speechless.

"Once we are put in fire, our team wakes up and responds," said Spang.

That is exactly what the Sachems did. Seconds later, after the Spartan fans were still on their feet cheering, Dan Donovan silenced the crowd with an unassisted goal that proved to be the game-winner.

Spartan's goaltender Robert Giordano stopped 20 of 25 shots to keep the Spartans in the game, while Winchester's Jed Robinson stopped 15 of 19 shots by the Spartans.

"Again, we need to do a better job of coming to play, no excuses, but a win is a win." said Spang.