FRAMINGHAM – Framingham boys hockey coach Adam Aguilar was not happy with the way Colin Walsh played the first two periods Wednesday night.
Aguilar felt that the sophomore, like many Flyers, started the game off scattered and his defensive lapses were costing the team.
“I wasn’t impressed with his first two periods, I thought he was very loose in the defensive zone and I told him such,” Aguilar said. “He’s the type of kids that can take that feedback as a young guy. I can tell him, you cost us a goal, you almost cost us a second and he needs to take care of the defensive end.
“He takes that feedback very seriously and he wants to get better every day, and he does. He’s made for the spotlight and he performs in big spots.”
After taking on his coach’s message, Walsh delivered for his team when it mattered most. Staring at a one-goal deficit with less than four minutes remaining, the sophomore scored three goals himself to lift the Flyers over the Redhawks 4-2, their first win in the rivalry in two years.
“I took it as motivation, I was hearing from coach, I wasn’t playing well, I needed to step up,” Walsh said. “I know that’s my moment so I just calmed down, got a few goals and took a dub for the boys.
“This feels amazing. All the stuff going on online, them chirping us. It feels great, the best feeling of my life right now.”
Wednesday’s win was the first time that Aguilar had beaten Natick as Framingham’s coach.
Last year, Aguilar’s first in charge of the Flyers, the Redhawks took both games in the season series.
“I grew up in Framingham, playing them in youth hockey, losing in states, losing tough games, so yeah, that one felt good,” Aguilar said.
The game was also the season opener for Framingham, giving the squad a little extra energy that may have negatively impacted them to start off.
“The coaching staff has been amped up all day, we might have been more nervous than the kids just because we’re such hockey guys, we love being here,” Aguilar said. “The boys were amped up, maybe a little too much. Playing a little loose and scattered throughout the first two thirds of that game.
“Natick is really structured, really stuck to their plan. We kind of ran around a little bit and I think the nerves kind of got the best of us a little bit.”
Out of the gates, both sides were testing each other and the officials, seeing how much physicality they’d be allowed to play with while trying to set the tone for the rivalry contest.
Natick navigated the play better to start things off, moving the puck cleaner and establishing themselves in Framingham’s zone.
The frenetic Flyers however were not helpless against the Redhawk systems.
Framingham applied pressure in transition in the first period and was the first to get on the scoreboard thanks to Adam Kornbau who found a way to poke the puck in from in front of the net.
After Kornbau’s goal in the 10th minute, the Redhawks kept up their shots but nothing could break don Danny McAuliffe in net.
The senior stopped all 15 shots he faced in the opening period and Framingham held a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission.
“He’s awesome, I love Danny,” Walsh said of McAuliffe. “He’s probably my favorite goalie that I’ve ever had. He’s awesome, he’s the goalie you always want on your team.”
Coming out of it, Natick was even more dominant, controlling the play for the majority of the period but still struggling to beat McAuliffe. With less than three minutes left to go in the second, the Redhawks were able to capitalize on the games first power play.
Jack Dempsey found Mikey Zahornacky who ripped a slap shot from the left side to beat McAuliffe and tie the game 1-1.
“For us, that second period was one of our better periods of the year, we out shot them 18 to 3 and had one goal to show,” Natick coach Karl Infanger said. “That’s gonna be the tricky thing to figure out with this team. Andover was the same way, we dominate the game and we got zero goals.
“It’s gonna be a different year than last year, but I love the way this team plays together, I love the way they play the system, they do what we ask.”
After seeing what his team offered up in the first two periods, Aguilar knew something had to change ahead of the final frame.
“I went in hard on them and let my other coaches kind of clean it up,” Aguilar said. “Little wake up call I think, calling people out, calling people’s jobs out a little bit. ‘Hey we’re not doing our job, second guy’s not doing our job.’
“Bit of a rattle to wake up and then let my coaches kind of go in and talk x’s and o’s and clean it up just to see how they respond.”
To start the third period however, it was still Natick controlling the play. With 9:21 to play, the Redhawks took advantage of another power play. This time it was Joe MacDonnell who took the puck off the boards himself and skated his way to a 2-1 Natick lead.
“I thought Joey had a great game, he dictated our offense a little bit with some other players, and always stuck up for us,” Infanger said of MacDonnell.
Despite falling behind, Aguilar’s squad knew the game was not yet fully lost and stayed in it.
“The bench never got down, it was like we’re better than this, we’re in this fight, we’ve got this,” Aguilar said. “We had a lot of new guys, even though they were juniors last year. I think this year, having that extra year and knowing a one goal game isn’t out of reach and we’re in it still no matter how bad we played.
“They had each others’ backs and they played like a family and they kept the bench together and positive.”
After allowing the goal to MacDonnell, McAuliffe froze the Redhawks for the rest of the third period, finishing the night with 40 saves.
“He was locked in, he’s ready to go,” Aguilar said of McAuliffe. “He’s been working really hard in the offseason and everything to come back for this senior year.”
As his goaltender did his part, Walsh began his run to close the third period.
With 3:31 to go the sophomore tied the game by knocking in a rebound. One minute after that Walsh roofed one to give Framingham its first goal since the opening period.
As Natick pulled its goalie in a last ditch effort, Walsh forced a turnover and secured his hat trick on an empty net.
“Once he realizes how to do that for a full game, it’s going to be very hard to stop him,” Aguilar said of Walsh.
For Infanger and the Redhawks, Wednesday night’s loss will only serve as fuel going forward.
“I think one of our captains said it right, ‘I never want to have this feeling again,’” Infanger said. “I really think this team is good enough to never have that feeling again. It’s the third game in and we have 18 left, our season is just beginning.
“This wasn’t the end all be all. One of the things we talk about all the time is always moving forward. We’re already in there talking about tomorrow’s practice, ‘What are we gonna do? How are we gonna be better?’”
