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ProJo News: Aquidneck Island hockey rivalries going strong

By John Gillooly - ProJo , 02/06/16, 12:45PM EST

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When the warm summer breezes are blowing, sailing may be the favorite sports competition around Aquidneck Island.

But when Old Man Winter rolls around, hockey has become the sport of choice in Newport County.

"The intense rivalry among the island towns has led to some games worth marking on your calendar," said Portsmouth High hockey coach Mike Monahan.

Take away the rivalries between Mount St. Charles, Hendricken and La Salle — the three Division I powers that have won the past 10 and 38 of the past 40 major state hockey titles — and the battle for Aquidneck Island bragging rights may have become the best high school hockey rivalry in Rhode Island.

There are two Interscholastic League high-school hockey teams involving the students from the three Aquidneck Island public high schools: Portsmouth, Middletown and Rogers.

Portsmouth High has had its own team since the early 1990s. Two years ago Middletown, which started high school hockey competition in 2003, joined in a co-op venture with Rogers and Rocky Hill, the small private school in Warwick.

Those two teams are the powers of the Division II hockey ranks.

The Middletown/Rogers/Rocky Hill co-op, with its roster mostly made up of Middletown and Rogers students, will go into this weekend’s action as the leader of the 10-team division with a 10-1-1 record. Portsmouth is in second place at 9-3-0.

When the two teams did battle last month in their first regular-season meeting, they packed the stands at the St. George’s rink.

“The games between us attract over 500 fans,” Monahan said. “The kids have grown up playing with each other and they get fired up when it comes time to square off.”

It’s all an outgrowth of an increased interest in hockey on the island. The Newport County Youth Hockey organization has become one of the largest youth hockey groups in Rhode Island.

It certainly helped when St. George’s built a second hockey rink 14 years ago. That meant that, including the rink at Portsmouth Abbey, Aquidneck has three hockey rinks within about 10 miles.

“The quality/quantity of recent players coming up through Newport County Youth Hockey has helped the rivalry,” said Monahan. “Right now Portsmouth has players battling to dress for games when they would be playing regular shifts for other teams.”

Portsmouth, which has big games this weekend against South Kingstown and North Smithfield, is led offensively by senior forward Josh Arkins, who is sixth on the Division II scoring list with 20 points on 12 goals and 8 assists.

But right behind Arkins is Rogers senior Mac Leys, who has registered 19 points with 8 goals and 11 assists.

But while both teams have players who know how to score, defense has been a key to their success.

Middletown/Rogers/Rocky Hill has given up only 19 goals in its 12 league games for a 1.58 goals-against average, the best in the division. Portsmouth has the second-best defensive mark, giving up only 1.91 goals per game.

The co-op defense has been spearheaded by Middletown sophomore goaltender Peter Dickinson, who leads Division II with a 1.27 goals-against average in 320 minutes of play. He has stopped 94 percent of the 132 shots fired his way. The co-op also has been getting steady netminding from senior John Nolan, who has seen 180 minutes of action between the pipes.

Portsmouth sophomore Matt Nordhill is the second-leading netminder in the division with a 1.74 goals-against average in 490 minutes of ice time.

The co-op, which has one game this weekend against the PCD/St. Raphael/Wheeler co-op, rolled to a 5-0 victory in its first meeting with Portsmouth. The two teams will meet again on the final weekend of the regular season, March 5 at Portsmouth Abbey.

“There’s a good chance our game will have major implications for the final D-II seeding, which will give our players a big-game experience that I’m sure they’ll never forget,” said Monahan.

The summer breezes can wait. It’s hockey time on Aquidneck Island.

-jgillool@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @JohnGillooly2

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