The Cranston East Hockey Team, the top outfit m Rhode Island, came to Walpole last Saturday afternoon with what was supposed to be the most powerful line in New England, but over 2,000 fans saw the Norwood wave of Richy Hebner, Blaine Maus, and Paul Angelo completely dominate the play, scoring all the goals as Norwood bombed the Rhode Island entry in an easy 6-2 win.
For Norwood it was Richy Hebner at his best as he brought the crowd to its feet with a great performance in scoring four goals Norwood Captain Blaine Maus chipped in with two markers and two assists and Paul Angelo had three assists in the rout The Norwood first wave, which has been flying lately, put on an amazing show of teamwork. Their passing was pin-point perfect and the hard-shooting Hebner really rocked the Rhode Island team with his bullet-like shooting In addition to the first wave, not enough can be said of the Norwood defense duo of Tim Twomey and Bobby Clifford in holding the vaunted Cranston team, which had averaged six goals a game in the Rhode Island league, to a mere two goals, one a fluke shot which took a weird bounce into the Norwood net Tom Smelstor played a fine game in the Norwood goal.
To add icing to the cake, the Rev. Dan Young's JV's lopped the Cranston underclassmen, 4-1. Bob Folan tallied two goals and Pete Oberländer and Dave Dooley had the other Norwood markers Frosh goalie Neil Higgins played an outstanding game in the Norwood nets
The varsity game got off to a slow start. Norwood first wave finally got moving at the three-minute mark as Angelo fed Maus and Blaine gave it to Hebner who was robbed in close The top-rated Cranston first wave of Dave Cavanaugh (the state's top scorer last year), Rich McLaughlan and Dan DeMichael tried to penetrate but Tim Twomey and Bob Clifford closed the door. Angie split the defense and went in all alone but Fiske made the save. Cavanaugh and Braynt had a couple of pot shots but Smelstor kicked them out. With a little over two minutes left in the frame, Norwood lit the lamp. Paul Angelo hustled the puck behind the net and fed to Maus, who layed the puck right on Hebner's stick and Richy just nudged it over the Cranston goalmouth at 7 52 for the first goal of the game. In the last minute of ¡the period, the Cranston first I wave applied the pressure as they were all around the net in the last seconds against the Norwood 3rd wave but Norwood cleared and Pete Oberländer just missed for Norwood at the buzzer. The saves were five for Fiske and three for Smelstor.
Norwood really unwound in the second period as they scored in 40 seconds flat It was Richy Hebner feeding Blaine Maus in a perfect two-way pass with Maus finishing it off in fine fashion for a 2-0 Norwood lead. McLaughlan had a nice chance for Cranston but Smelstor kicked it out. Hebner was sent in all alone by Maus but was stopped by Fiske At 4 15 Norwood made it 3-0 as Hebner picked up a loose puck and fired a blazer from the left corner that caught the upper right-hand corner of the net Norwood kept pressing as the first wave was all around the net with some great passing but couldn't gel off a shot.
At 9'50 Norwood made it, 4-0 as Captain Blaine Maus, who had just come on the ice in a line change, took a pass from Paul Angelo and rifled a blazer from just inside the Blue Line that the Cranston goalie didn't have a prayer on.
In the third frame, Cranston scored two quick goals arid threatened to make a game of it.
At 1:15 Cavanaugh took a pass from Filler and hit the lower left hand it was 4-1 Then at the three-minute mark Tod Bryant took a long shot from just inside the Blue Line and the puck took a bounce over Norwood goalie Smelstor's stick into the Norwood net and the score was 4-2. The visitors tried in vain to come back but Smelstor closed the door. At 6:26 Norwood wrapped it up as Tim Twomcy passed to Blaine Maus and the Norwood Captain led Hebner with a pass just inside the circle. Hebner threaded the needle as he hit the upper left-hand corner of the cage and the Wheelerman had a three-goal lead. Hebner took a neat I pass from the ever-present Paul Angelo 22 seconds later and waltzed in alone the Cranston net minder and bagged his fourth goal of the game. Two minutes later it was all over.
The lineup:
NORWOOD — g, Smelslor; Id, Twomcy; rd, Clifford, c, Maus; rw, Angelo; lw, Hebner. Spares, Donahue, Crowley, Hasenfus, Oberlander, Stewart, McNeil, Oberlander, Cronin.
CRANSTON — g, Fiske ; nv, Cavanaugh; c, McLaughlan; lw, DeMichael; Id. Bryant; rd, Filler. Spares, Smith, Wilkinson, Greene, Pliakas.
Goals — Hebner 4, Maus 2, Cavanaugh, Bryant
Assists —• Maus 2. Angelo 3, Iiebner, Twomey, Filler.
By FRANK WALL
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