Jewett, Berlin blow past Hollis Brookline

Friday, January 25, 2013

HUDSON – They worship the sport of ice hockey in the northern town of Berlin, as well as those who play it.

If that’s the case, then Berlin High School junior forward Connor Jewett must be treated as a deity. On Wednesday night, he scored five goals in a 7-0 whitewashing of Hollis Brookline at Cyclones Arena, giving him 30 goals on the season, and the Mountaineers are now 10-0 atop Division III.

“I thought he would have a big year,” Mountaineers coach Mike Poulin said. “His linemates have done a good job getting him the puck, they look for him. It’s been an overall team effort, but he’s done a good job at finishing.”

He finished the Cavs off, scoring four goals in the second period to turn a 1-0 game into a rout. The Cavs (4-6) have been without top forward Dan Ash, who suffered a broken leg in the preseason, and their best defenseman Ian McNamara, due back soon from a knee injury. But, they played Berlin tougher on the road than this nearly two weeks ago, losing 5-3 while giving up a hat trick to Jewett.

“Up there, we didn’t let him walk around like he did here,” HB coach Ken DiCredico said. “But (Wednesday) it was worse. I don’t know (if it was) because they saw the name on the jersey, and bow to him.

“Up there, when we were down, we didn’t give up. It seemed like we gave up (Wednesday) and let them just snowball it on us.”

“Over the summer I grew up, matured a little bit, and now I see a lot more (time) on the ice,” Jewett said. “It’s been fun. We’ve been getting better every day in practice, and that’s our goal, get better every day.”

Cavs goalie Travis Howard had 54 saves in the first Berlin meeting and on Wednesday picked up right where he left off, stopping 19 Mountaineer shots in the first period. But a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty produced a late-period power play, and Berlin’s Mike Lemoine beat Howard high gloveside for a power play goal just 11.3 seconds before the first intermission for a 1-0 lead.

Then Jewett took over in the second. He had a breakaway goal on a beautiful pass up ice from Jeff O’Neil at the 7:40 mark. He scored two other goals with assists from Justin Vien and got his first of two shorthanded goals at 13:47 to make it 5-0.

Berlin’s Zach Blanchette sent the game to running time early in the third period and Jewett got a second shorthanded goal at 6:25 to finish the scoring. With an assist last night, he now has 47 points on the year.

The Cavs actually had chances to tie it early. While Berlin goalie Brendan Williams had to make only 12 saves for the shutout, two were on HB breakaways while nursing a 1-0 lead. He stoned Ian Rowe late in the first and captain Tim Birch early in the second.

Under siege all night, Howard ended up with 34 stops.

“The thing I was disappointed about in the first period was the amount of shots we gave up,” DiCredico said. “Travis stood on his head.”

While Jewett, it seems, skates on air.