Canton Boys Ice Hockey: Canton Edges Mansfield on the Ice in Hockomock Classic

A third game anyone? Both the Canton and Mansfield High boys ice hockey teams will take a third meeting in the Division 2 South tournament.

“They have the top spot on one side locked up,” said Canton High Head
Coach Brian Shulman. “We’re going to be on the other side, so we would
meet far along in the tournament, probably the South finals. There was a lot of talk in the end of the game line that we will see you in the tournament.”

Canton got a late goal from Greg Boyd to defeat Mansfield, 3-2, in
the first Hockomock League Classic at the Canton Rink. The Hornets
finished the regular season with a 17-2-1 record and will now wait for the
tournament pairings.

Oh yeah, those two losses were to the Bulldogs.

“We had to play them twice in this rink,” said Mansfield Head Coach
Steve Anastos. What he wants is a neutral setting for a possible third meeting, which they will get if the play in the tournament.

It looked like the two Hockomock champions were headed to a tie for
most of the third period. There would have been a shoot out for
classic title.

“It was a great high school game,” said Shulman. “This is what it is all about. This was a one goal game and that’s as good as it gets. They (Mansfield) only have the two losses and they’re a great team. They’re Hockomock League champs and took the title away from Franklin.”

After a scoreless first period, Canton jumped out to a 1- 0 lead at the 11:40 mark of the second period. Nick O’Connor skated in front of Mansfield keeper Rich Shipman and parked himself on the right side of the net. From there, O’Connor deflected a shot from the point into the Mansfield net. Mike Oldenburg and Brian Brooks picked up the assists on the goal.

Mansfield tied the score at 7:24 mark of the second period. Mike Blackman cashed in on a two-man advantage for a power play goal. Blackman got alone in the front and put the shot past Canton keeper Richard Nee. Jason Collins and Brendan Murphy earned the assists.

In the third period, the Hornets took a 2-1 led as Steve Folan tipped in a shot 42 seconds into the frame. Jason Collins picked up an assist. JC Marcone then redirected in a rebound to tie the score at two for the Bulldogs.

After Blackman had a goal waved off after the referees blew the whistle when they lost sight of the puck, Canton got the game-winner with 2:27 left in the game.

“We haven’t been scoring a lot of goals, so we wanted to try to get more traffic in front of the net,” said Shulman.

A year ago, Canton won the state title, but with 14 freshmen and a sophomore, the Bulldogs are basically a different team that was on the ice at the T.D. Boston Garden when Canton beat Newburyport for the title.

“This is fun,” said Shulman. “We’re trying to play Canton hockey. We want to play with pride. “

Canton improved to 13-2 on the season and will play at North Quincy Tuesday.
Mansfield is done with the regular season and shifting attention to the postseason.

“We might scrimmage against Xaverian if they make it,” said Anastos. “It would be a controlled scrimmage.”