The Westfield Bombers came out with something to prove in their match up on Saturday versus one of the state's top ranked teams in Division 3, the Algonquin Tomahawks.  With the exception of a 5 minute span in the 1st period, they outplayed the visiting T'Hawks.  But high school hockey is a 45 minute game, and the scoreboard read 5-2 Algonquin when the final horn sounded.  

The teams started the game with good up and down action throughout the first couple of shifts.  Algonquin looked sharp on the breakout but Westfield allowed them to work around the outside of the offensive zone protecting the middle.  That manifested itself into the first Bomber goal as Gavin Carzello picked off a centering pass deep in the Westfield zone, he sprinted out of the zone with the puck quickly finding Scotty Bussell a few strides ahead, and the two of them executed a nice 2-on-1 play with Bussell feeding a sweet pass over the defender's stick to the streaking Carzello who went backhand and slid the puck between the goalie's pads.  Algonquin recovered quickly taking control of the rest of the period and peppering goalie CJ Czarnecki from all angles.  The sophomore goalie stood strong until the 7:57 mark when T'Hawk Nolan Kimball avoided a Carzello hit at the blue line, streaked in on left wing and sniped a shot over Cznarnecki's shoulder to tie the contest at 1.  Algonquin's strength is precision passing and it was on display for their 2nd goal where Kimball cashed in on a nice tic-tac-toe passing play from Nick Larsen and Aidan O'Leary.  They weren't done there!  Larsen was credited for a goal 21 seconds later when his shot from the point was stopped by Czarnecki with the rebound bouncing in off of Alex Maggipinto.  Algonquin wasn't done yet.  They found the back of the net again 2 minutes later with 2:59 remaining in the period on a Bennett MacCauley goal.  The Bombers coaching staff and goalie felt there was goalie interference on that play, but the referees didn't see it and the Tomahawks lead grew to 3.

Westfield showed a lot of heart from there on.  They came out and played solid hockey in the 2nd period outshooting Algonquin 8-7 in the stanza.  They established a solid forecheck which created several scoring chances.  They did end the period getting called on consecutive penalties forcing them to start the 3rd down 2 men.

The third period started with the Bomber's killing off a 2-man disadvantage and continuing to build the momentum and take control of the game.  Great scoring chances were stymied by solid saves by the T'Hawks goalie as Spencer Cloutier and Scotty Bussell were each robbed twice on puck steals in the zone.  That momentum came to a screaching halt when Westfield inexplicably lost control of the puck right next to their net, and as Czarnecki tried to jump on it to stop play, it was tipped under him to the front of the net where only Algonquin players stood.  This untimely turnover allowed Kimball to complete the hat trick and with only 9:39 remaining, ended any hope of a comeback.  Westfield did cash in with 6 minutes remaining on the power play as Bussell fed a pass from the right half-wall to Ryan Moorhouse at the point.  Moorhouse fired a low shot that went in off of Cloutier's leg as he was being knocked down and the lead was 3 again.  The Bombers dominated play from there on but were unable to score making the final 5-2.

Joe Taupier and Matt Bacon had solid games up front for Westfield, as did Liam Webster and Carzello on D.  Danny Buckelew was moved up to forward, a position he hasn't played in years, and had a terrific game drawing 2 penalties and hitting a crossbar on a scoring drive.  The Bombers have improved their discipline the past 2 games keeping out of the box for the most part. They’ll need to continue that as well as avoid the lapses they’ve seen against a couple of tough ppponents in order to get where they want to go this season