High School Sports: Hockey

Smithfield High goalie Nathan York and teammate Corey Nangle, left, celebrate their 7-4 win over Ponaganset to claim the Division II title last night.

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / Kris Craig

PROVIDENCE — Many words have been used to describe top-seeded Smithfield (20-3-0) this season: explosive, powerful and dominating.

After last night’s impressive performance, the Sentinels can add two more words to that list: resilient and champions.

After blowing a two-goal lead in Game One of the Division II state finals and losing to Ponaganset, 5-2, Smithfield overcame a two-goal deficit in Game Two to win, 3-2, and tie the best-of-three series.

Last night the Sentinels faced yet another two-goal disadvantage. Again they came through to defend their Division II state title and capture their seventh state championship since 1990 with an emotional 7-4 victory over the upset-minded Chieftains.

The victory capped the 28-year legacy of Reynolds Lillibridge as one of the most successful boys hockey coaches in Rhode Island Interscholastic League history. Last night was his last game. He said that he is retiring to spend more time with his family.

Only Mount St. Charles (38), Burrillville (21) and Cranston East (10) have more hockey titles than Lillibridge’s Sentinels.

“I have so many wonderful memories and I have so many great kids that I’ve worked with, I’m going to really miss them,” Lillibridge said. “I’m going to really, really miss them — that’s for sure.”

The Sentinels were playing for their coach.

“[John Gillooly] wrote in The Providence Journal that it would be nice if he went out with a bang and I guess we did that for him,” said Smithfield forward Daniel Sleboda, the game’s Most Valuable Player.

Sleboda scored a natural hat trick to ignite the Sentinels’ comeback.

Trailing, 2-0, after early first-period goals by Ponaganset’s Derek Rogala and Anthony Vallone, Smithfield sensed that its state championship hopes were slipping away. But the Sentinels turned up the sense of urgency and tied the game, 2-2, before the first period ended.

“We just know that we can score on them so we don’t worry,” Sleboda said of Smithfield’s comeback. “We just go out there and put in a few. When we get down, we don’t get down [on ourselves] like other teams would. We just go out there and keep doing what we are doing.”

Lillibridge never doubted Smithfield’s ability to rally either.

“I tell them that the only thing that they have to do is execute,” Lillibridge said. “If you execute, you are going to win, and if you put shots on net, you’re going to win. [Ponaganset goalie Anthony Fernandes] stoned us pretty good the last two games. But I said, ‘Just keep shooting and we are going to get six or seven tonight,’ and we got seven. We were lucky.”

Sleboda, who recorded his hat trick in an 11-minute span, slashed the Chieftains’ lead in half when he blasted the puck into the cage from between the circles with 5:25 left in the first period. Sleboda struck again less than three minutes later when he muscled in a shot from point-blank range to give Smithfield, which outshot Ponaganset, 19-5, in the first period, the momentum heading into the middle period.

Sleboda netted his third goal of the game 36 seconds into the second stanza before Colby Fugere flipped in a rebound to make it 4-2 at 2:21 into the period.

Rogala answered with a power play goal with 5:54 remaining, but Smithfield’s Kyle Boyle came right back with a goal 12 seconds later to put Smithfield back up by two, 5-3.

Samuel Tridenti lifted Ponaganset’s spirits when he scored with 4:20 to go, cutting the Sentinels’ advantage to 5-4. But Corey Nangle and Nick DiCarlo provided two third-period insurance goals for Smithfield.

“It feels just like last year, but a little better because this is our second one,” Sleboda said of winning back-to-back state titles.

First period — P, Derek Rogala (Samuel Tridenti, Matthew Dunn), 3:43. P, Anthony Vallone (Daniel Foster), 6:59. S, Daniel Sleboda (Daniel Foster), 9:35; Sleboda (Nick DiCarlo, Joseph Gonsalves), 12:12, Penalties — S 1-2, P 2-4.

Second period — S, Sleboda (DiCarlo, Ryan Maloney), :36; Colby Fugere (Robert Reall, Mike Votaloto), 2:21. P, Rogala (Dunn, Vallone), 9:06. S, Kyle Boyle (Reall), 9:18. P, Tridenti (Dunn, Vallone), 10:30; Penalties — S 4-8, P 1-2.

Third period — S, Corey Nangle (Mike Giuliani, Maloney), 6:22; Nick DiCarlo (Tim Judge), 14:04. Penalties — P 1-2, S 3-6.

Saves — Nathan York, S, 20; Anthony Fernandes, P, 31.

roblee@projo.com