Winchester Hockey Knocks off Watertown

After suffering its first loss of the season, Winchester used a strong third period to pick up its second win of the season.

When Raider sophomore Joey Kelland scored unassisted less than two minutes into the third period, the deficit was just 3-2.

But seven minutes later, David Troiano netted a tally that ignited a three-goal spurt, propelling the Sachems to a 6-2 victory over the previously unbeaten Raiders at Ryan Arena.

“In under six minutes, they get three goals,” said Watertown coach John Campbell. “There’s not much you can say about that. But we just played three games in three nights; four games in five nights.”

And it showed as Winchester dominated a sluggish Watertown squad early. The Sachems applied a relentless offensive attack that paid off when Alex Sharp backhanded a shot in near post six minutes into the contest. Watertown escaped the first period down only one goal thanks in large part to senior goalie Alex Hayek, who made several key saves.

“My goalie played tremendous,” said Campbell. “He made 39 saves tonight.”

The Sachems augmented their lead minutes into the second period on a Troiano tally. The Raiders would then break that advantage in half 1:30 later with Chris Usseglio grabbing a Michael Busconi rebound and scoring a power-play goal. But that was short-lived as a minute transpired before Sachem Ben Piecz blasted a shot through traffic that found the back of the net.  

The defeat drops the Raiders to 4-1 on the season. They are now off until Jan. 4 when they will play Wakefield. The Sachems, meanwhile, improve to 2-1.

“We came out and played hard,” said Winchester coach Matt Spang. “We are coming off a loss. No one in our locker room was happy after the Wakefield game on Saturday. So the boys came ready to play and that’s what we’re going to have to do every night.”