DEDHAM – Midway through the final day of preliminary round play at the 2018 Pre-Draft Showcase, the Flying Vee A’s looked as though they were well on their way to securing their first win of tournament in their Saturday afternoon contest. By its end, however, a comfortable victory had become a narrow escape as they defeated the Long Island Jawz 5-4 at Boch Ice Arena.
The A’s came in with authority, Alec Myers putting them ahead 1-0 just 36-seconds after the game’s opening faceoff. It was a lead that grew to 2-0 before the end of the opening half, thanks to a late goal from Stephen Guadalajara, and eventually 5-0 before 10-minutes elapsed in the game’s second half.
As the clock dipped below 10-minutes remaining, however, things began to get interesting.
Dmitriy Ignatov scored the Jaws first goal at 15:02 of the second half. Just over two minutes after that it was 5-2 on a goal from Michael Walsh. Just over two minutes after that it was 5-3 on a goal from Jonathan Pearson.
Momentum had swung in favor of Long Island and the scoreboard became even more dramatic when Teddy Valenti cut the once five-goal deficit to just one at 24:14 with an unassisted tally that made it 5-4. Yet, that is where the rally ended as the A’s lead held for the game’s remaining 46-seconds.
Guadalajara (2G) and Pearson (1G, 1A) led the contest in scoring with two points apiece.
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