Neely Cup – Day 2 Recap

The Neely Cup continued Friday afternoon at Winterhawks Skating Center. The teams play two 30-minute games with a running clock, switching ends in between.

The first matchup of the day was Team Hossa taking on Team Messier. Team Hossa opened the scoring on a goal by Presten Kopeck, but Team Messier responded with three straight to jump out to a 3-1 lead. Team Hossa’s Oliver Gabriel scored late to cut the lead to 3-2, but they couldn’t get the equalizer as Team Messier picked up their first win,

In the second matchup, Team Hossa jumped out and scored five straight goals to take command of the game. Gabriel had two goals and an assist (along with his goal in the first game) to pace his squad to their first win of the tournament. Team Messier’s Brad Ross scored with under a minute to go to spoil Team Hossa netminder Adin Hill’s shutout bid.

Friday’s nightcap featured Team Deadmarsh taking on Team Ference. In the first game, two teams quickly scored four goals for a 2-2 tie that lasted for much of the game. Nic Petan and Cody Castro scored for Team Deadmarsh, while Tyler Sandhu and Taylor Peters found the back of the net for Team Ference. But with 1:37 to go, Team Deadmarsh defenseman Troy Rutkowski broke the deadlock and scored the winning goal to give his team the victory.

Team Deadmarsh would complete the sweep in the second game, earning a 3-1 victory. Josh Blanchard, Sven Bartschi and Nathan Craft found the back of the net for Team Deadmarsh in the win. Team Ference got a goal from Steve Alldridge with 1:12 left to stymie Team Deadmarsh goalie Blake Pearson’s shutout attempt.

After Day 2, the standings look like this:

Team Deadmarsh: 3-0-1
Team Ference: 2-2
Team Hossa: 1-2-1
Team Messier: 1-3

Neely Cup action continues Saturday beginning at 4 p.m. at Winterhawks Skating Center.