High school boys' hockey: Grafton doesn't need OT this time in victory over St. Paul
WORCESTER — After two consecutive overtime games to open the season, Grafton eliminated all the drama in the first period on Wednesday afternoon against St. Paul, scoring five times in the first period as the Gators cruised to a 7-0 victory over the Knights at the Worcester Ice Center.
The win was a significant departure from Grafton’s first two games, a 3-2 win over Assabet, courtesy of an overtime winner from John DeFonzo, and a 4-3 OT loss to West Springfield.
Overtime has been adopted statewide in high school hockey this season. If teams are tied after regulation, a four-on-four, sudden-death overtime period lasting five minutes is played. A goal scored during that period gives the winning team two points while the losing team earns zero points. If the overtime ends tied, both teams skate away with a point each.
Grafton coach Mike Binkoski said the fact that the losing team doesn’t earn even a point adds additional stress to an already pressure-filled overtime.
“It’s something that in the past you truly have not had to work on until the postseason so it’s something that we have had to build into practice earlier in the year which we are not used to,” Binkoski said. “It’s just the fact that you either grab two points or zero points. It’s huge. It makes that five minutes that much more important. You’ve got to play smart, maybe taking a chance here and there so you can grab those two points instead of zero.”
Binkoski also said while he enjoys the new overtime component, he thought the way points were awarded leaves room for improvement.
“I would like to see you play for the extra point,” Binkoski said. “You’ve battled for 45 minutes so to have that extra five minutes where maybe you come out with one point, but you have the possibility of coming out with two or zero, that can make a really big difference throughout the course of the year.”
“It was fun in our opening game when we scored, and we had a good celebration on the bench,” Binkoski added. “It’s a memory a kid will have forever. But when we gave one up this past Saturday, it wasn’t too fond of a memory.”
In Wednesday's game, Binkoski liked the way his team came out fast.
“We said that we needed a solid first period,” Binkoski said. “The past two first periods were not exactly where we wanted them to be. They were a bit sloppy. We came out today focused and ready to go, and that started with a good warmup, and it rolled right into a good first 15 minutes.”
Paul Hardcastle opened the scoring just 92 seconds into the game when he converted off a St. Paul turnover to make it 1-0. Less than a minute later, Keegan Gilmore made it 2-0 Gators, firing home a rebound opportunity.
“We just battled,” senior Nic Petone said. “We didn’t really start fast in our first two games, but we did tonight.”
Midway through the period, Lukas Petone made it 3-0 before Hardcastle and Cam Michaud scored late to give the Gators a commanding 5-0 lead after the opening period. Grafton outshot the Knights, 25-8, over the first 15 minutes of play.
Petone added his second of the game in the second period, and Nick Gouveia tallied in the third for the 7-0 final.
—Contact Chris Kyne at sports@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @tgsports.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Grafton hockey doesn't need overtime, upends St. Paul, 7-0
