Old Rochester hockey team can’t hold on to early lead in season opener
Dec 18, 2022
Sophomore forward Cliff Hedges scores on a breakaway to bring the Bulldogs to within one with six minutes remaining. Photos by: Morgan Beard
Dartmouth’s Will Gibson stops short with Old Rochester sophomore Jarod Frates hot on his trail.
Sophomore forward Jarod Frates loads up a wrist shot from the wing.
Freshman goalie Tucker Roy deflects a shot wide.
Sophomore forward Caleb Bousquet lays a big hit on Dartmouth senior captain James Charrier.
Old Rochester sophomore Michael Brown faces off with Dartmouth’s Brady Beauparland.
Despite the cold weather and the frozen arena, the Old Rochester hockey team got off to a hot start in its first game of the season against Dartmouth on Wednesday, Dec. 14.
The Bulldogs scored twice in the opening minutes of the contest, however, Dartmouth fought back, tying the game by the end of the first period and ultimately winning it 4-3.
Despite the defeat, Old Rochester Head Coach Zach Ledogar said the team showed signs of strength that it can carry forward.
“Being up two nothing was great — you could see our confidence there early,” he said. “But they battled back hard. A four-three loss is tough but we’re moving on to [New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School] on Saturday.”
He added that the team will need to work on its consistency to be successful in the future.
“Going forward we just need to stay motivated through three periods on offense,” he said. “All over the ice we kind of slowed in some areas, so we’ve got some things to work on going into Saturday. I feel like we’ll bounce back pretty well.”
The score of Saturday’s matchup against New Bedford Voc was not available at time of writing.
As for positive takeaways from the season opener, Ledogar said he was happy with the performance of freshman goalie Tucker Roy, as well as the team’s power play success.
“Our goaltender played great. He stopped every first chance opportunity. It was just the rebounds that we needed to work on,” he said. “We scored some good goals — first shot opportunities. We did a good job on our power plays, which have been lacking in the past.”
Ledogar was also impressed with the way his players stayed in the game late and gave themselves a chance to tie it, even after going down by two in the third period.
“The kids battled back hard all the way through,” he said. “We had an opportunity to tie it at the end there with a power play and the kids didn’t give up…It just felt like we were gonna get one.”
Ledogar said the team saw five seniors graduate last year, including one forward and four defensemen.
“So that’s where we’re going to be trying to fill some holes from last year,” he said.
The Bulldogs will host their home opener against Seekonk on Wednesday, Dec. 21 at Tabor Academy’s Travis Roy Arena. The time of the game is still to be determined.
