On Friday, December 11th, the Hillers suffered a tough defeat against Medway. In this photo, juniors Joe Fujiyoshi (left) and Brian Aggerback (right) attack a Medway player and retrieve the puck after a tough battle against the boards. Photo taken by Johanna Berton.

By Johanna Berton
On Friday, December 11^th, the Hillers Varsity Ice Hockey team struggled for points in its season opener against the Medway Mustangs. Medway walked away with its first win of the season, with a final score of 6-1. The scoreless first period of the game proved each team’s ability to battle, but the Hillers lost momentum in the second period after taking a huge number of penalties. “When you give a quality team like Medway that many power play opportunities, nothing good will come from it,” says Coach Hogan of the Hillers. “[We] lost whatever momentum we had gained in the first period.”

Within thirty seconds of period two, Medway scored to make it 1-0. After three short minutes in the period, Medway pushed the score to 3-0, but the Hillers quickly recuperated and came back to make it 3-1. Junior Andrew Preite scored the only goal for the Hillers while senior Captain Calvin Lee put pressure on the Mustang defense by taking an outstanding number of shots. Hopkinton Goalie Billy Elder performed very well that night, making thirty-six saves for the Hillers. The Hillers’ rally was not completed though, because Medway proceeded to score three more points to end the game with a score of 6-1.

The large amount of penalties taken by the Hillers in the second period impacted the game a great deal. “It is hard to play almost an entire third of a game with only four players playing against a full five players,” says senior Captain Brian Lawler. “We are scheduled to play Medway again in January and by then we are planning on being a lot more successful. We just made some mistakes that gave the Mustangs the momentum.”

The Hillers will play Dover/Sherborn on Wednesday night, December 16^th, at home (Navin Arena) and are hoping to regain confidence in their season. “What we need to do as a team,” says Coach Hogan, “is be more consistent, and understand that if we play three periods the way we played the first period against Medway, we can compete with everyone on our schedule.”