SAUGUS \u2014 The Wilming\u00adton Wildcats Bantam 1 squad continued its im\u00adpressive postseason run with a commanding semifinal victory over the top-seeded Reading Rockets on Route 1 in Saugus.<\/p>\n
Entering the matchup with a 13-11-2 record, the Wildcats had prior success against Reading (17-10-1), having won three of their four regular-season meetings.<\/p>\n
Wing pairings were: Stel\u00adla Hardiman and Jaydn On\u00ados, Mathew Desmond and Zach Stroud, Matthew Riley and Brayden Warford. Grayson Lynch and John\u00adny Raposo alternated ev\u00adery other shift as a centerman.<\/p>\n
The Cats rolled with three defensemen, Matthew Fogg, Mason King, and Brendan Cyr.<\/p>\n
Evan Jageler supporting the lefty glove tended the net.<\/p>\n
From the opening puck drop, Wilmington\u2019s same game plan was to come out aggressive and firing on all cylinders. Dressed in white, the Wildcats wasted no time setting the tone offensively.<\/p>\n
Just 1:41 into the first period, Wilmington broke through.<\/p>\n
Mason King carried the puck deep into the offensive zone under pressure before sending it back to the blue line. Zach Stroud\u2019s wrist shot was deflected into the high slot, where Johnny Raposo gathered it, composed himself, and fired home the game\u2019s opening goal.<\/p>\n
Moments later, Stroud was involved again, this time an unassisted goal.<\/p>\n
After breaking up a clearing attempt at the offensive blue line, he split the defense and went in alone, roofing a shot past the goaltender to give Wil\u00admington a 2-0 lead just two minutes into the contest.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats dominated the opening period, outshooting the Rockets 12-0 and controlling play in all three zones.<\/p>\n
Skating with a short bench of just 11 players, fatigue began to surface midway through the second period.<\/p>\n
Wilmington successfully killed off a cross-checking penalty to captain Bren\u00addan Cyr with strong de\u00adfensive work from Rapo\u00adso, Matthew Riley, Bray\u00adden Warford, and Matthew Fogg. But moments later at even strength, a shot from the point hit the back wall and came out front to a sitting Reading forward, who snuck one by Evan Jageler to make it, 2-1.<\/p>\n
Wilmington answered just 40 seconds later.<\/p>\n
Cyr carried the puck al\u00adong the offensive blue line and fired a low shot on net. With Jayden Onos musc\u00adling out in front, Grayson Lynch emerged from be\u00adhind the cage, collected the loose puck, and buried it to restore a two-goal cushion at 3-1.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats extended their lead to 4-1 when On\u00ados forced a turnover at his own blue line and fed Cyr streaking up the middle. Cyr capitalized on the break\u00adaway and celebrated with by leaping into the glass in front of the Wilmington faithful crowd ofparents and siblings.<\/p>\n
The second period tested Wilmington\u2019s endurance, as the team was forced to kill off four penalties, in\u00adcluding a 5 on 3 disadvantage.<\/p>\n
Despite the pressure, the Wildcats protected the house, with goaltender Ev\u00adan Jageler turning aside key chances.<\/p>\n
Wilmington led 4-1 after two periods, outshooting Reading 18-7.<\/p>\n
Early in the third, Lynch struck again. Taking a wall pass from Riley, Lynch made a slick toe drag and unleashed a laser from 10 feet inside the blue line, extending the advantage to 5-1.<\/p>\n
Midway through the final period, captain Cyr was sent to the locker room following a controversial call, leaving Wilmington shorthanded both in numbers and leadership.<\/p>\n
Rising to the challenge, Stella Hardiman shifted from forward to defense, helping stabilize the lineup during a critical final stretch.<\/p>\n
Reading managed a late goal, but Jageler stood tall, finishing with 13 saves on the day and preserving the Wildcats\u2019 decisive 5-2 victory.<\/p>\n
Following the win, the team celebrated in style at Prince Pizza before turning its attention to the championship game.<\/p>\n
Wilmington will face the North Central Mass Sting\u00aders (9-14-3), a team they previously defeated 5-4. The finals will be held on Saturday, April 4 at 3:40 p.m. at Haverhill Valley Forum\u2019s Blue Rink.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAUGUS \u2014 The Wilming\u00adton Wildcats Bantam 1 squad continued its im\u00adpressive postseason run with a commanding semifinal victory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[46105,46101,35712,46111,1782,46108,61882,5,6,46107,46110,46100,61880,46102,46099,61881,23775,61879,37155,1354,46112,44441,61878,22500,46109],"class_list":{"0":"post-540634","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-brayden-warford","9":"tag-brendan-cyr","10":"tag-centre-ice-hockey","11":"tag-evan-jageler","12":"tag-goaltender","13":"tag-grayson-lynch","14":"tag-haverhill-valley-forums-blue-rink","15":"tag-hockey","16":"tag-ice-hockey","17":"tag-jaydn-onos","18":"tag-johnny-raposo","19":"tag-mason-king","20":"tag-mathew-desmond","21":"tag-matthew-fogg","22":"tag-matthew-riley","23":"tag-north-central-mass-stingers","24":"tag-reading","25":"tag-reading-rockets","26":"tag-saugus","27":"tag-seasons-in-american-ice-hockey","28":"tag-stella-hardiman","29":"tag-town-crier","30":"tag-wilmington-wildcats-bantam-1-squad","31":"tag-wilmington","32":"tag-zach-stroud"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116347656862232523","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}