MASS MAPLE LEAFS JUNIOR HOCKEY CLUB MAKE HISTORY AT NATIONALS

The Mass Maple Leafs 2009-10 season was a twist and turns type season.
There were many high notes and some low notes but the Leafs not only did they make
some organizational 1sts but also some CHA 1sts as well.
The Leafs started the playoffs as the 3rd seed and through 6 games and 2 OTS in 55 hours
later they came out as the CHA #2 seed for Nationals. This was the 5th consecutive appearance
for the Mass Maple Leafs organization at the USA Hockey National tournament.

The Leafs would find themselves in a very tough bracket. The Leafs were to play
defending National Junior B Champion Suffolk PAL of the MET League followed
by Empire entry Buffalo Stars and to conclude with the Empire League Regular season
Champion Boston Junior Bruins.

The Leafs were pumped to open up Nationals as the first game of the tournament
and didn’t disappoint as they were all over the Suffolk team in the first period
but thanks to some great goaltending it remained scoreless after the 1st period.
The Leafs were not going to rest on a good 1st period and came right out where they left off
and scored a shorthanded goal by Benny Brouillard assisted by Andrew Desroisers.
This pair would hook up two more times in the game to give Desroisers three helpers
on all Brouillards 3 goals. Joe King scored an empty netter to seal the deal with a 4-2 win
over the defending champions. Matt Cray was solid in net and had 28 saves in the win.
This win was the first not only by a Leafs team in Junior B Nationals but also the first win
versus a MET team at Nationals.

The Leafs would then take on the Buffalo Stars. The game would be a defensive battle
with both goalies making some big saves. Leafs goalie Trey Flesch made some of
the spectacular fashion. Buffalo would jump to a 2-0 lead until 22 seconds left in the 3rd period
. The Leafs with an extra attacker off the face-off Jarred Mitrano won it back
to defenseman Bret Zimmerman for a top glove snipe to bring the score 2-1.
The Leafs would then take the center ice face-off get the puck deep in the zone
and get a face-off with 8 ticks left on the clock. Coach Tony DeSilva would call
for the same play and this time a loose battle occurred and Leafs Joe King shot would be saved
and rebound to the slot to a wide open Eric Stelnick who buried it into a wide open net
with 2 seconds remaining. The game would then go into Overtime where the game remained tied
until 8 seconds remaining a penalty was called on the Leafs and the Stars would capitalize
and score with 2 seconds reaming for a 3-2 OT win. The point by the Leafs gave them 3 points
which was another first by a CHA team achieving both a win and a tie.

The efforts put forth by the Leafs in the last 22 seconds earned them a
winner takes all situation versus the Junior Bruins. With the 3 other brackets already determined
it left 5 teams remaining in Junior B Nationals. This was also another first
for both the Leafs and the CHA.

The Leafs would start out fast and started the scoring by a Leafs goal by King assisted
by Stelnick and Mitrano. The leafs would then dominate the first period until penalties
caught up the Leafs and the Bruins would score a power play goal to even it up at 1
at the end of first period. The Leafs try battling back unsuccessfully
and couldn’t capitalize on their offensive chances and power plays.
To make matters worse they continued the trip to the box as well.
Despite some great goaltending by Leafs Cray, the Bruins power play proved to be too much
for the pesky Leafs to handle and ended their season and National run with a 6-1 defeat.

The Leafs finished with a 53-27-6 record and ranked 9th in the country.
This in a season that was filled with twists and turns ended up not bad at all.