Buoyed by an enthusiastic home crowd and bolstered by a solid team-wide effort, the No. 1-seeded Winthrop High boys hockey team skated to commanding victories over Tri County (9-2) and Hudson (6-1) in MIAA State Tournament home games at the Larsen Rink at the Mike Eruzione Center.
The Vikings were scheduled to play No. 24 seed Ashland in the Elite 8 round Wednesday night at the Stoneham Arena with a spot in the Final Four on the line.
All the positives that Coach Dale Dunbar’s contingent carried over from the Vikings’ NEC championship season – an explosive offense, excellent defense, and stellar goaltending – were present in the two MIAA playoff games.
Two-time NEC Most Valuable Peter Silverman figured prominently in the offensive firepower, putting together a 6-point night (three goals, three assists) versus Tri-County (a 12-town regional vocational school district in Franklin) and a 4-point afternoon (1 goal, 3 assists) versus Hudson.
Silverman’s linemates, Phil Boncore and Mike Holgersen, were equally potent contributors, with Holgersen scoring a key goal to help Winthrop pull away from the Hawks, and Boncore finishing off the visitors with the final two goals of the game.
Sophomore defenseman Colin O’Leary had a lamplighter from the point and junior forward Jay Fotiades also scored a goal to turn a 1-0 advantage into a 3-0 lead in the second period against Hudson.
All-NEC goaltender Mike Donahue submitted another strong effort that also included an assist on Boncore’s first goal.
In the win over Tri-County, senior forwards Joe Rich and Glen Calla netted timely goals. Freshman forward Joe Pumphret helped get the ship rolling against Hudson with an assist on Winthrop’s only goal (Silverman) in the first period.
Coach Dunbar Maintains His Coaching Philosophy
Head coach Dale Dunbar, who has played the game at the highest levels, was pleased with his team’s dominating perfomances, but he stayed true to his “one-game-at-time” mantra, not eyeing the Final Four or a game on the Garden ice.
“We’re not looking past anything. We’re just trying to execute everything that we have in place: our forechecking, our power play, all of our principles – we just want to execute at a high level,” said Dunbar.
The former BU standout feels his team can match up with any team in the division. A perennially challenging regular schedule has helped the Vikings in the post-season.
“As long as we play our game, we feel very comfortable against whomever we play,” said Dunbar. “This is a nice opportunity for us to continue to play another day. Everybody knows the consequences. As long as we play our game, and we stick together and continue to have fun and support each other, we’ll be fine.”