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March 25, 2007

East Greenwich earns Division I-A title

PROVIDENCE — They had tasted the agony of defeat, which may be why Sean Donlon, Zach Rotundo and Alex Miller savored the thrill of victory so much last night.
Two years ago the trio, the tri-captains of this season’s East Greenwich High hockey team were sophomores on the East Greenwich team that lost to Burrillville in the title series of the Division II state tournament.

“It was the worst bus ride I have ever been on,” Rotundo offered about the trip back to East Greenwich after the loss in the 2005 state tourney.

Last night Donlon, Rotundo, Miller and their Avenger teammates discovered the thrill of a championship ride home as they completed a sweep of their best-of-three Division IA title series against Barrington with a 1-0 victory over the Eagles in the second game of the series at Providence College’s Schneider Arena.

Last night’s triumph, combined with a 6-0 victory in the first game of the series Saturday, gave East Greenwich its first state hockey title in 24 years.

“To win it right now is the sweetest thing because it has been so long since East Greenwich won a championship in hockey,” Rotundo said.

It was Miller’s goal at 4:50 of the second period that provided the difference on the scoreboard, but it also took some big third-period saves by East Greenwich goaltender Nolan Paduto to keep the Avengers on top.

Last night’s third-period heroics, combined with a shutout in the first game of the series, earned Paduto tournament MVP honors.

Last night’s game was a complete contrast to opening game of the series, in which East Greenwich virtually settled the issue late in the second period when it jumped out to a 3-0 lead with two goals within two minutes.

“They came to play tonight,” Miller said about the Barrington effort that left the outcome in doubt until the final buzzer.

Both teams started slow last night, and after eight minutes they had been a combined total of only four shots on cage, three by East Greenwich and one by Barrington. In fact, Barrington went nine minutes before getting its second shot on cage with 4:30 to play in the opening period.

East Greenwich did managed to put four shots on Barrington netminder Marshall Jamerson during a late first-period power play, but there were no serious scoring threats. East Greenwich finally started applying pressure on Paduto during an early second-period power play, but Paduto made the initial stop on three shots, and his defensive corps made sure the Eagles didn’t get any rebounds.

But shortly after the teams were back at full strength, East Greenwich’s Dave Paduto took the puck into the Barrington zone along the right boards and fired a shot at Jamerson from just inside the right face-off circle. Jamerson had a bead on Paduto’s shot, but just before the puck reached the Barrington netminder, Miller made a mid-air deflection that redirected the puck over Jamerson’s glove into the upper right corner of the cage.

Barrington didn’t challenge Nolan Paduto with any serious scoring threats in the first two periods, but during four minutes of a man-advantage in the first 10 minutes of the third period the Eagles definitely tested the Avengers junior netminder. Paduto, who needed to make only 10 saves in the first two periods combined, made 10 more stops in the final period.

“We have 11 seniors on this team. To send them off to college with this is great,” Nolan Paduto said.

For Donlon and teammate Steve Salvator, last night’s victory gives them two state titles in their first two sports seasons of their senior year. Both played major roles in the East Greenwich’s football team’s victory in the Division III Super Bowl this past fall.
“Going into East Greenwich, knowing it was such a small school, I never expected this,” said Donlon about the two championships.

First Period – No scoring: Penalties – B 1-2, EG 1-2
Second period – Miller (D. Paduto) 4:46. Penalties – B 3-6, EG 1-2.
Third period - No scoring. Penalties EG 2-4.

March 25, 2007

East Greenwich earns Division I-A title

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