FALMOUTH — If Jake MacDonald doesn’t get you, Peter Lattanzi, Andy Moore or Jackson Williams are bound to make you pay.
Gardiner found that out the hard way Monday at Family Ice Center, becoming the latest team to try and hand Greely, the defending Class B South boys’ hockey champion, its first loss.
And it became the latest to fail, losing 7-2.
The Rangers took an early 2-0 lead, allowed the Tigers to tie it, then finished on a five-goal run.
MacDonald had a hat trick and three assists, Williams added two goals and four assists, and Greely (9-0) scored four times on power plays.
“We trust ourselves and we know if we give up a goal or give up a lead, we can get it back,” said MacDonald.
Although the pace was fast from the start, goalies Quinn Veregge of Gardiner and Ben Singer of Greely answered challenges.
The Rangers opened the scoring on a power play at 3:17 of the first period when MacDonald set up Moore.
That score held until a wild final minute of the period, when MacDonald made it 2-0 from Williams with 34 seconds remaining, and the Tigers (7-5) answered with 6.2 seconds left when Gabe Poirier collected a pass from Jon Flynn and shot past Singer to make it 2-1 heading to the second period.
Gardiner then killed off a four-minute Greely power play and momentarily drew even when Tanner Hebert scored at 9:57.
But 26 seconds later, out of a scrum, MacDonald scored for the second time – Zach Dubbert and Williams were credited with assists – and the Rangers had the lead for good.
“Honestly, I was just trying to get a shot to go through,” MacDonald said. “Our power play is so good when we move the puck fast. We have great team chemistry.”
MacDonald then provided a little breathing room when he completed his hat trick at 11:16 to make it 4-2.
“Jake is a big-game player,” said Greely Coach Barry Mothes. “He’s had a really strong season so far. He’s been playing with a lot of speed and he’s fun to watch.”
The Rangers never allowed Gardiner to entertain comeback hopes in the third period. Williams scored on a power play at 3:32 from Caleb Duff and Moore, Williams scored another power-play goal, off a rebound at 9:59 and Lattanzi scored on a power play at 11:12 to close it out.
“We were disciplined on the power play today,” Mothes said. “We talked about mental toughness and that really helped us.”
Greely got 11 saves from Singer.
Gardiner got 35 saves from Veregge and scored once in two power-play opportunities, but allowed four power-play goals by the Rangers.
“The penalty box has been a struggle on and off for us,” Tigers Coach Tyler Wing said.
“(Greely) did well exploiting our weakness of the penalty kill. They have great depth. We’ve got three solid lines that I can skate reliably, but we couldn’t touch their lines.”
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