Spartan Highlights Winter Season Lawrence Academy Takes NEPSAC Title

Spartans are 2023 Boys Piatelli/Simmons

(Small School) Bracket Ice Hockey Champions

by John Bishop

Goffstown, N.H. — “Never a doubt!” Yeah, right.

But postgame, the coach and his student-athletes said the same thing outside the victorious Lawrence Academy locker room. For the NEPSAC Piatelli/Simmons (Small School) Bracket Champions, belief and reality combined following an improbable 4-3 overtime victory over the Frederick Gunn School (FGS) in Saint Anselm’s Sullivan Rink near Manchester, N.H.

“It was definitely an emotional experience,” said senior goalie Vincent Lamberti. “Being here for three years through some tough seasons I’m happy about it,” he said, grinning ear to ear.

Happiness wasn’t an emotion most LA fans were experiencing for much of the afternoon. Strong play by FGS kept the game in doubt, particularly for the rowdy LA fandom who packed the D-II college rink. Despite the Spartans opening the scoring with Marek Thompson ’23 fed Clarence Beltz ’23 to put LA up 1-0 at 5:03 of the second period, the Gunn School quickly countered, knotting the game at 1-1 going into the third period and then added two more in the third to go up to 3-1.

“At the beginning of February, the guys started to believe in each other and believe in themselves,” said Head Coach Robbie Barker ’00. “I thought we got a good jump on them today, and then things went awry. But the guys played with poise, and it came down to the last minute there in regulation — not a position that we haven’t been in before.”

Meanwhile, FGS made the road to victory treacherous for LA, whose NEPSAC Championship hopes teetered precariously throughout the third period. But the scrappy Spartans would not quit, even after Gunn dented the LA crossbar, almost making the game 4-1. Seconds later, and working from his knees, Owen Leahy ’24, with some help from Josh Erickson ’23 and Brendan Hirsch ’24, muscled the puck past the prone Gunn goalie to bring the deficit down to one with just over eight minutes remaining.

The game stayed that way until LA, shorthanded but with the goalie pulled, pulled off a minor miracle. Coach Barker called a timeout with 1:01 remaining and an LA player in the penalty box. Lawrence Academy then controlled the puck off a faceoff in the Spartan zone, and Lamberti skated to the bench. After controlling the puck in the Gunn zone, LA nearly saw the puck float into an open LA net. But, on the subsequent breakout, Thompson passed the puck to Shawn White Leary ’24, whose deflected shot fluttered to a waiting Erickson. He tied the game with just 22.1 seconds to spare. The period ended tied 3-3.

After several long minutes of back-and-forth play and taking advantage of a three-on-two breakaway, Leahy finally snuck the puck between the left arm and the body of the Gunn goalie. Pandemonium ensued on and off the ice; the improbable playoff run dramatically ended.

“Through practicing and buying into a system and sticking to a game plan, I told them that we could skate with anybody,” said Coach Barker of his team’s poise and discipline down the stretch. “If you guys just stick to that game plan, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to pull off some great things.”

And they did. Never a doubt, indeed.