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Portsmouth, RMT Hurricanes skate into Division II Frozen Four

steve rogers, newport daily news
·4 min read

The top two seeds in Division II hockey recorded quarterfinal-round sweeps and advanced to the Frozen Four semifinals at Providence College on Sunday.

No. 1 seed Portsmouth defeated No. 8 seed North Smithfield/Johnston/North Providence 3-1 on Friday at Portsmouth Abbey and 4-3 the following night at the RI Sports Center.

No. 2 seed Rogers/Middletown/Tiverton topped No. 10 seed Cranston West/Scituate 5-2 in the best-of-three opener on Friday night at St. George’s School. The Hurricanes prevailed 6-0 on Saturday at Cranston Veteran’s Ice Rink.

Portsmouth's Joey Levreault scored the game-winning goal on Saturday, a night after he netted two goals against the North Smithfield/Johnston/North Providence co-op squad in a Division II quarterfinal-round series, as the No. 1 seed Patriots swept the No. 8 seed Northmen to advance to the Frozen Four on Sunday.
Portsmouth's Joey Levreault scored the game-winning goal on Saturday, a night after he netted two goals against the North Smithfield/Johnston/North Providence co-op squad in a Division II quarterfinal-round series, as the No. 1 seed Patriots swept the No. 8 seed Northmen to advance to the Frozen Four on Sunday.

Opponents change after quarterfinal-round upset

Because there was an upset in the quarterfinals – No. 6 seed Narragansett/Chariho swept No. 3 seed South Kingstown 8-3 and 3-2 – per Frozen Four rules, top-seed Portsmouth will play the lowest remaining seed which is Narragansett/Chariho. Portsmouth edged the co-op squad 3-2 in their lone regular-season clash.

The Hurricanes, who were in the original bracket with Narragansett/Chariho, instead await the winner of the series between No. 4 seed Lincoln and No. 5 seed Ponaganset. Those teams exchanged shutouts in the first two quarterfinal series games with the deciding game being played Monday night.

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RMT lost to Ponaganset 2-1 on Dec. 17 and fell to Lincoln 3-2 in the first game of the regular season. The Hurricanes and Lions also played to a 1-1 draw.

Portsmouth will play in its Frozen Four semifinal at Schneider Arena on Sunday at 5 p.m. The Hurricanes follow at 7:30 p.m. The winners advance to the 1 p.m. championship game on Saturday, March 18, at Schneider Arena.

How Portsmouth advanced to the semifinals

Portsmouth overcame a two-goal deficit with four consecutive goals spanning the second and third periods as it edged North Smithfield/Johnston/North Providence 4-3 on Saturday in the series clincher.

Hayden Krzych got Portsmouth on the scoreboard with a goal late in the second period. Shane Temple followed with a power play goal to knot the score with 26 seconds left in the middle period.

Temple scored again three minutes into the final period and Joey Levreault got what proved to be the game-winner with 97 seconds left. The Northmen scored with seven second remaining to make it interesting but ran out of time.

Patrick Bennett of the Rogers/Middletown/Tiverton co-operative hockey team was one of six different players to score a goal as the No. 2 seed Hurricanes eliminated No. 10 seed Cranston West/Scituate from the Division II playoffs with a 6-0 win on Saturday. RMT now heads to the Frozen Four.
Patrick Bennett of the Rogers/Middletown/Tiverton co-operative hockey team was one of six different players to score a goal as the No. 2 seed Hurricanes eliminated No. 10 seed Cranston West/Scituate from the Division II playoffs with a 6-0 win on Saturday. RMT now heads to the Frozen Four.

Portsmouth goalie Steve Dutra made 24 saves. Andrew Alvanas had a pair of assists and Logan West, Ben West and Levreault had a helper each for Portsmouth.

Levreault tallied two goals, the last and empty-netter with 30 seconds remaining in the game, as the Patriots prevailed 3-1 in the opener. Levreault opened the scoring about 10 minutes into the game when he scored on a power play with Alvanas and Temple providing the assists.

Connor Rogers put Portsmouth up 2-0 when he tallied an unassisted goal 12 minutes into the third period. The co-op squad got on the board with a minute left in the game before Levreault’s empty-netter removed any Portsmouth tension. Dutra made a dozen saves.

How RMT took the next playoff step

The Hurricanes pushed their unbeaten streak to 14 games (12-0-2) and their winning streak to seven straight with their sweep of Cranston West/Scituate.

RMT goalie Max Braun needed to make just a dozen saves and Cranston West/Scituate went quietly from the playoffs as the Hurricanes scored a 6-0 decision in the series finale.

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Six different players scored a goal each including shorthanded tallies by Keaton O’Shea and Noah Leys. Christian Berlutti had a goal and two assists and Patrick Bennett, Zach Scheffler and Matt O’Hagan scored a goal each. Johnny Lopes had two assists and Liam Fitzgerald, Dylan Marvelle, Evan Agren and O’Shea contributed an assist apiece.

In the series opener on Friday, O’Shea had a pure hat trick in a six-minute span to close the first period that ended with RMT up 4-0. Lopes started the scoring and Liam Fitzgerald finished it in the second period.

Goalie Braun, who had an assist on O’Shea’s third goal, finished with 17 saves. Both of Cranston’s goals came on the power play. Leys, O’Hagan and O’Shea each had two assists while Fitzgerald had one.

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: RI high school hockey: Portsmouth, RMT advance to Frozen Four