On Wednesday evening the Canton Bulldogs opened up a three game road trip by traveling to Rhode Island to go to battle against the Smithfield Sentinels. Canton was looking to get back into the win column after a hard fought tie to Duxbury at home. The Bulldogs were excited for this one, especially junior goalie Liam Polles who was making his first varsity start. One thing the Bulldogs were determined to figure out was their power play, just minutes into the first they got an opportunity to just that. An early 5 on 3 powerplay lead to Jack Connolly introducing himself rudely to fans of Smithfield after he lit the lamp by snapping a wrist shot from the point past the goaltender. Later in the period the Sentinels scored with four minutes remaining after Polles couldn’t scramble back on to his feet after getting knocked down in traffic out from the net. After the first period with the game knotted at one, fans in the rink could tell the atmosphere was different and that the winner of this game was going to need to go the distance and compete for the full 45 minutes. The game remained tied for about half of the period both teams were in and out of the penalty box and showed lots of offense but no one could find the back of the net. Finally, Canton defenseman Ronan O’Mahony snuck a shot through from the point after a clean faceoff win by John Hagan to break the tie. Then just 17 seconds later the tables had turned for good as Hagan netted a beauty of a goal after getting to a loose puck and picking on the Smithfield goalie. Smithfield wouldn’t go quietly as they potted one more goal, but quickly after, Canton answered as Shane Marshall had a highlight reel goal after receiving a chip pass up the boards from freshman Vinny Sica. Timmy Kelleher added a tally as well just for good measure. The Bulldogs cruised to a 5-2 victory due to some big games from John Hagan, Jeff Chaput, Liam Polles, Tommy Vaughan, and Ronan O’Mahony. Every player on the ice played a great game for the Bulldogs and it was a big win for a team that has suffered some injuries as of late. The Canton Bulldogs will travel to Attleboro on Saturday to open up their Hockomock League schedule.
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