Dartmouth High hockey wins overtime thriller
Mar 5, 2022
Dartmouth High players celebrate a goal in the third period during their first round matchup against Westwood High on Saturday. Photos by: Christopher Shea
The divisional round opponents face off in the Westwood zone.
Senior forward Nick Howarth celebrates his third period goal.
Fans give the Indians a warm welcome to the ice.
The student section cheers on the Dartmouth High team.
Howarth attempts a shot on net.
NEW BEDFORD — Two years removed from its last tournament game, Dartmouth High’s hockey team came back in a big way after beating Westwood High 4-3 in an overtime thriller to open up the Division 2 tournament on Saturday.
“What a game,” Head Coach Mike Cappello said. “Everybody was locked up — just one of those matches you want to coach.”
It was an even matchup at Hetland Arena, with the Indians and Wolverines trading the lead throughout the game.
While Dartmouth saw plenty of chances early on, Westwood opened the scoring late in the first with a shorthanded goal.
With less than five minutes remaining in the second, senior forward Damien Medeiros evened things up. Unfortunately for the Indians, Westwood would retake the lead 12 seconds after Medeiros’ equalizer.
“We didn’t get much momentum there, but we felt we were getting more possession and that something could go through,” Cappello said.
Heading into the third down 2-1, Dartmouth took its first lead of the game after a tying goal from senior Nick Howarth and a lucky bounce from senior Cullen Larrabee as he attempted to dump the puck into the Wolverines’ zone.
“Sometimes you need a little luck to win games and that certainly helped us out there,” Cappello said.
As regulation drew to a close, the Wolverines evened things up with a last-minute goal after pulling their goaltender.
Once the game went to overtime, the Indians knew they were ready for the moment as Cappello said that the team had practiced many four-on-four scenarios heading into the game.
After back-and-forth chances, along with a big save by senior goaltender Ashton Machado, senior forward J.C. Frates ended things with a top-shelf shot with a little more than three minutes left.
“We’ve done this all year in practice and it’s never happened the way it did today — what a time for it to work out,” Frates said. “Couldn’t get any better than that. Definitely one for the history books.”
Dartmouth will face either Duxbury or Auburn/Milbury in the round of 16 — a game Capeillo said he hopes can be won in regulation.
“That’ll help our hearts,” he said with a laugh.
