Oakmont/Gansett Ice Hockey News

In front of one the largest home crowds in four years the Oakmont/Gansett Spartan Hockey team beat Grafton High School in an exciting 1 - 0 battle Saturday, Feb. 9, at Iorio Arena on Cushing's campus.

With only one conference game left against Hudson-Catholic High School, the Spartans have put themselves in position to win the Russell Conference.

Fans enjoyed perhaps one of the best Spartan hockey games in history, certainly in recent memory. This game was well played by both teams. It was a defensive affair in which both teams still had solid scoring chances. The game remained tied at the end of a hard fought first period that ended with the Spartans taking two penalties in the final minute. Stephen Amblo and Eric Woodward logged a great deal of minutes killing off penalties in this period, and did a tremendous job doing it.

The Spartans had to kill a 5-3 to start the second period. Nick Carter, Jayson Guavin, Ian Cornwall and Matt Foley did a heck of job killing off the penalties. The tight checking and end to end action continued throughout the second period, but with 1:10 left in the period Carter's determination earned the Spartans' game winning goal when he whacked the puck, about waist high in the air, into the Grafton net.

Third period continued with exciting action. Once again the Spartans began the period by having to kill off a penalty. End to end action continued with many heart stopping moments for both teams. With the Spartans winning by one goal at the end of the period Grafton pulled their goal tender and placed a sixth skater on the ice. The pressure in the Spartan zone was intense, but with Aaron Testa in net making key stops late, and Spartan forwards and defensemen battling, the Spartans held on to secure the victory.

This win was a total team effort and everyone contributed with yeoman effort and a ton of heart. The Spartans improved to 11-2-3 and look to continue to improve their game play as the playoffs approach.

Several Spartan hockey players are selected as Central Massachusetts All Stars.

Three players were selected as Russell Conference All Stars this past weekend. Mike Girard and Nick Carter were selected as conference forwards and Ian Cornwall as a conference defenseman. This is Girard and Cornwall's second consecutive year as conference all star selects. Brendan Gallagher received an honorable mention.

The team's victories are also coming in other ways. The team had four players selected to play in the Russell and Coughlin conferences all star game for the North Team: Mike Girard will play forward, Ian Cornwall and Liam Rafferty will play defense, and Aaron Testa will play in the net.

The game will be played Sunday, Feb. 24, at 4 p.m. at the Wallace Civic Center in Fitchburg.