Framingham lives to play another day, top Xaverian in OT

BOURNE — When Will Trischitta hit Framingham teammate Hunter Balducci in the left circle during 4-on-4 overtime in Sunday’s Super Eight elimination game against Xaverian, the senior captain had a pretty good idea he’d be getting the puck back.

Balducci obliged, and Trischitta kept the Flyers’ season alive as he finished the give-and-go with 1:51 left in the extra session to deliver a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory at Gallo Arena.

“Hunter is one of my best friends off the ice and I have been playing with him since I was six years old,” said Trischitta. “We had a goal very similar to that in a big game against Wellesley, so when I gave him that stretch pass through the neutral zone, I think we both knew what the play was in our minds. We do it in practice every day, and luckily we executed.”

Trischitta and fellow senior captain Jared Shimelman each scored twice for Framingham (16-6-2) as the No. 7 Flyers overcame an early 2-0 deficit to advance in the losers bracket to face two-time defending champion BC High in Stoneham on Wednesday. It was the second OT winner for Trischitta in this year’s postseason as he also did the deed against Reading in the play-in game.

“This is a guy that led the state in points. This is a guy that knows where the net is. This is a guy that has a high hockey I.Q.,” said Framingham coach Will Ortiz of Trischitta. “That last play was just a highlight-reel play.”

Xaverian (13-6-3) scored twice in the span of 30 seconds to build a 2-0 lead after one, getting a redirect from Ty Marchi and a putaway at the left post from Ryan Pomposelli.

But the fifth-seeded Hawks could not feel safe considering the Flyers had rallied from 3-0 down for a 4-3 overtime win during the regular season, and Framingham surged back to tie it 2-2 in the second behind a pair from defenseman Shimelman, who buried a slapper on the power play for his first and then came crashing in to put home a rebound after a rush from Balducci.

Framingham struck again on the power play to take its first lead in the third at 3-2 on a Trischitta blast from the left point, but Pomposelli matched him with his second of the game to level things, motoring down the right side and then cutting across the face of the net for the finish with 5:03 remaining in regulation.

“Going down 2-0 in the first, it could have gone two ways – sideways or our way,” said Ortiz. “Our kids showed some resilience and fought hard. I don’t think the energy was there in the locker room to start the game, but they dug deep and they found a way.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3cfPe2W