Falkof's Hat Trick Leads Stoughton High Hockey Past King Philip

The that King Philip and Stoughton played, four weeks ago, the Warriors crushed Stoughton, 10-1, in a game that the Black Knights can easily call their worst performance of the season.

On Saturday at the Asiaf Rink in Brockton, Stoughton hosted the Warriors on Senior Night, but it was a sophomore that dominated the festivities, helping Stoughton avenge their nine-goal loss to King Philip, and take a 5-3 victory in the rematch.

Phil Falkof, Stoughton’s leading scorer, showed once again why he is among the top players in the state, scoring four goals in a game for the this season. Falkof now has 18 goals and 12 assists (30 points) in only 16 games.

The contest was a Hockomock League Crossover Game involving King Philip from the Kelly-Rex Division (large schools) and Stoughton from the Davenport Division (small schools). Both teams finished league play in third place (based on league record) in their respective divisions.

Falkof did have an outstanding supporting cast, starting with his linemates, juniors Larry Hixon and Dan Swartz. Hixon had two assists and Swartz had a goal and two assists.

Stoughton’s undermanned defensive corps were led by junior Josh Potter, senior co-captain Jordan Ricci (three assists) and senior Steven McNamara, who each logged a significant amount of ice time.

Senior co-captain Tim Hanson, who had 34 saves in net, was outstanding in the third period as King Philip dominated territorially. The win broke an eight-game losing streak for the Black Knights.

With the victory, Stoughton improves to 4-13-1 overall, while King Philip falls to 4-11-3.

“It was good to finally get a win, especially against a team that gave us such a beating the first time,” said Stoughton coach Dan Mark. “We’ve played real well of late and deserved a reward (win) for our effort. It was a great individual performance by Falkof, but other players also made a big impact for us to gain this win.”

Stoughton got on the scoreboard first, with Falkof netting the game’s first goal with 4:36 left in the opening period. King Philip responded, tying the game just over two minutes later, on a goal by senior Ed Riddoch (one goal and one assist).

With the score tied 1-1 entering the second period, King Philip took its only lead of the night on a goal by senior Jake Murphy, just 1:33 into the period.

The Black Knights then exploded for four unanswered second period goals. Falkof tied the score 2-2, a little more than a minute after the Warriors had taken the lead. Swartz then gave Stoughton a lead that it did not relinquish, midway through the second period.

Falkof added to the lead, scoring his third goal of the game (third hat trick this season), only 40 seconds after Swartz’s goal. Falkof got his fourth tally of the contest with only 28 seconds left in the period.

King Philip, trailing 5-2, turned in a solid third period, which began with sophomore Nick D’Amico scoring just 24 seconds into the period.

The remainder of the period, the Warriors spent most of the time using Hanson for target practice, but the Stoughton senior netminder was equal to the task and kept King Philip off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

“We had the lead in the second period and controlled the third period and outshot them (37-23), but Falkof was the difference and you have to give him a lot of credit, he’s a special player,” said King Philip coach Patrick Leahy. “I thought we played a very strong game and I’m happy with my team’s effort, but we couldn’t overcome what Falkof did and a solid second period for Stoughton. For us it was too little, too late.”

 “We played real hard and King Philip played real well, but we were able to hold on for the win,” Mark added. “We want to finish the season on a high note and we are optimistic about the team that’s returning next year.”

King Philip will end its season with two non-league games, hosting Marblehead on Monday at 2:00 p.m. at the Foxboro Sports Center and then traveling to Taunton to play Bishop Feehan on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.

Stoughton wraps up its season at the Bourne Tournament on Wednesday against Bourne at 4:10 p.m. and against Dartmouth or Westfield on Thursday at either 2:10 p.m. or 4:10 p.m.

SCORING

1st period:

Stoughton-Phil Falkof from Jordan Ricci and Dan Swartz at 10:24

KP-Ed Riddoch from Kevin Cronin and Matt Tibbetts at 12:36

2nd period:

KP-Jake Murphy from Ryan Boselli at 1:33

S-Phil Falkof from Dan Swartz at 2:50

S-Dan Swartz from Jordan Ricci and Larry Hixon at 7:54

S-Phil Falkof from Jordan Ricci and Larry Hixon at 8:34

S-Phil Falkof (Unassisted) at 14:32

3rd period:

KP-Nick D’Amico from Ed Riddoch at 0:24