Marlbrough, MA - 

Winners of 13 straight USPHL Premier games, the Jersey Hitmen took the show on the road thispast weekend to face off against the rough and tumble, Boston Jr Bruins. Earlier in the season, one of the Hitmen's three USPHL losses came at
the hands of the Bruins at the New England Sports Center, so the
Carolina blue were ready to make up those lost points. In game one, the Hitmen did not exactly stick to the game plan. As the
buzzer rang to end the first period, the shots read 13-8 in favor of the
Hitmen, but the scoreboard read, 3-0 in favor of the Bruins. Between periods,
after a spirited talk from the Hitmen staff and a change in goal, from Ebbe
Sionas to Chris Funkey, the Hitmen began to turn the tide in their favor. At
10:23, USPHL leading scorer, Michael Laffin finally broke the Bruin spell, and
the Hitmen were on the board. However, that was all the Hitmen could muster in
the second as the period ended 3-1. The third period started much like the
second ended as the Hitmen were mounting a lot of offense, but the
Bruins goalie, Danny Tirone, was equal to the task, until the captain
struck again. At 10:18, Laffin tickled the twine, for his second of the
night, cutting the Bruins lead to just one, 3-2. After ringing a post, and
missing an open net on the powerplay, the Hitmen used their timeout with :32
seconds remaining in the game. After drawing up a play to the left of the
Bruins net, the Hitmen could not covert, but they did not quit. With :7 seconds
remaining, assistant captain, Connor Costello ripped a puck at the net, that
was partially blocked and Patrick Schule was there to hammer the bouncing puck
home and tie the game at three. In overtime, neither team mounted any big time
scoring chances so the game went into a shoot-out. In the shoot-out, Bruins
captain, Timothy Doherty scored in sudden death, to gain the Bruins two points.
The Hitmen escaped with one point, and extended their regulation unbeaten
streak to 14. "It wasn't the way we drew it up, but we will certainly take
it," commented coach Toby Harris after the game on the thrilling game
winning goal. "We were not at our best today, but I was proud of how our
boys battled and never gave up. We spotted them 3 early, but managed to
stop the bleeding, get our legs underneath us, and steal a point." Harris
continued, "this team hates to lose, and they took pride in the 13
game unbeaten streak, but now we start a new streak. That's
their mentality. Tomorrow is another day, and we hope to be better tomorrow
against a very well coached Bruins team." Bounce back. They did. As in Sunday's late matinee, the Hitmen used three
consecutive third period goals to sink the Bruins 4-3. The goals came from
Patrick Schule (who had 2 on the day), David Szmyd and Jared Dedenbach.
The Hitmen also got a great start in goal from, Chris Funkey who kicked away 21
Bruins shots to bolster and already impressive goals against average to a
stingy 1.99. "Taking 3 of 4 points from the Bruins in their building in a
monumental task," said Harris. "I am so happy how the boys responded
off a lackluster performance on Saturday. This is a big win!" The Hitmen will face off against the USPHL Premier division second place,
Philadelphia Jr Flyers, this weekend in a home and home series. Game one will
take place Friday, at the Ice Vault at 12pm. Sunday at 1:20pm, the Hitmen
will travel to the Flyers Skate Zone for game 2 of the set. If you can not
be in attendance at the Hitmen games this weekend, follow all the team action
at www.fasthockey.com