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Updated: January 22, 2026 @ 8:11 am
Lincoln junior defenseman Brandon Paris, #22, celebrates his power-play goal in front of an exuberant group of fans along the boards with 4:27 to play in the second period of last Friday night’s Division II showdown against the defending champion East Greenwich/Toll Gate co-op team at the Rhode Island Sports Center. The Lions skated to a 4-1 win that helped them grab the second spot in the D-II’s RPI rankings. Right, Lincoln goalie Rocco Bruzzi gets ready to make one of his 31 saves in last Friday’s victory over East Greenwich. The sophomore standout also came back the following night to stop 15 shots in a 3-2 win over the Burrillville/Ponaganset co-op team.
Players from Lincoln High and the East Greenwich/Toll Gate co-op team mix it up along the boards midway through the second period of last Friday’s game. Both teams combined for 58 penalty minutes, including a 10-minute misconduct on each team.
Lincoln goalie Rocco Bruzzi gets ready to make one of his 31 saves in last Friday’s victory over East Greenwich. The sophomore standout also came back the following night to stop 15 shots in a 3-2 win over the Burrillville/Ponaganset co-op team.
Lincoln junior defenseman Brandon Paris, #22, celebrates his power-play goal in front of an exuberant group of fans along the boards with 4:27 to play in the second period of last Friday night’s Division II showdown against the defending champion East Greenwich/Toll Gate co-op team at the Rhode Island Sports Center. The Lions skated to a 4-1 win that helped them grab the second spot in the D-II’s RPI rankings. Right, Lincoln goalie Rocco Bruzzi gets ready to make one of his 31 saves in last Friday’s victory over East Greenwich. The sophomore standout also came back the following night to stop 15 shots in a 3-2 win over the Burrillville/Ponaganset co-op team.
Players from Lincoln High and the East Greenwich/Toll Gate co-op team mix it up along the boards midway through the second period of last Friday’s game. Both teams combined for 58 penalty minutes, including a 10-minute misconduct on each team.
Lincoln goalie Rocco Bruzzi gets ready to make one of his 31 saves in last Friday’s victory over East Greenwich. The sophomore standout also came back the following night to stop 15 shots in a 3-2 win over the Burrillville/Ponaganset co-op team.
NORTH SMITHFIELD – The Lincoln High boys’ hockey team has enjoyed a few multiple-win weekends this season on its way to a 7-2-2 record, but none of them were as electric as last weekend.
Facing off against the defending Division II champion East Greenwich/Toll Gate co-op squad last Friday in a showdown between two of the top teams in the D-II’s RPI rankings, the Lions thrilled their home fans at Route 146’s Rhode Island Sports Center by skating to a penalty-filled 4-1 victory.
Twenty-four hours later, the Lions took the ice at Levy Arena for a matchup with a Division I foe, the Burrillville/Ponaganset co-op team. Scoring twice in the final five minutes of the first period, Lincoln bumped its unbeaten streak to six games by holding on for a hard-fought 3-2 win.
Those two victories pushed the Lions past East Greenwich/Toll Gate and into the number two spot in the RIIL’s D-II rankings behind Portsmouth, which improved to 8-2-1 by defeating Blackstone Valley Schools in overtime, 3-2, on Monday afternoon at Lynch Arena.
The last time to down the Lions was neighboring rival Cumberland, which defeated Lincoln, 2-1, in a game that was decided by a shootout. Those two squads will square off again on Saturday at 2:45 p.m. in front of what promises to be a full house back at the Route 146 arena.
The Clippers are currently 4-6 and haven’t played since Saturday, Jan. 10.
While that game promises to be an energetic one, last Friday’s matchup with East Greenwich/Toll Gate certainly fell into that category. It was a physical battle from beginning to end and saw both sides team up to total 58 penalty minutes, including a 10-minute misconduct on each team.
But before the penalties began to pile up, the Lions grabbed a 1-0 lead 4:40 into the game on a goal by junior Robert Choiniere that was set up by the Lions’ leader in assists, senior Tyler Almeida.
With 4:27 to play in the second period, the Lions doubled their lead on a goal by junior defenseman Brandon Paris that was assisted by senior Nick Pelosi, but 39 seconds later, the visitors cut their deficit in half.
Nevertheless, the Lions took the momentum back 26 seconds into the third period when Lucas Schmidts lit the lamp off a pass from Almeida. Down by two goals with three minutes to play, the visitors pulled their goalie in favor of a sixth attacker, but with 15 seconds on the clock, Choinere iced the contest by scoring an empty-net goal.
“This was a high energy game,” said fourth-year Lincoln head coach Dylan Narodowy, who saw his goaltender, sophomore Rocco Bruzzi, turn away 31 shots in an exceptional effort. “(East Greenwich/Toll Gate) is the defending champion and they’re obviously a great team, so our guys really had to step it up. We talked about it all week, and we executed.”
The Lions were sky high after that win, and they kept their spirits up in their matchup last Saturday in Burrillville. Paris and his classmate, Gracin Tanguay, gave the Lions their early lead, and after the hosts sliced their lead in half with 4 1/2 minutes to play in the second period, senior McLean Polak gave Lincoln back its two-goal cushion with his 12th goal of the season.
With 24 seconds left in that period, Burrillville/Ponaganset again cut its deficit in half, but Lincoln stepped up defensively in the third period to preserve its slim lead, as Bruzzi made seven of his 15 saves in those final 15 minutes.
Entering last weekend, the Lions were coming back-to-back ties with the Aquidneck Island/East Bay co-op squad, which also includes players from Rogers, Middletown, Tiverton, East Providence, and Mount Hope, and the Cranston/Scituate/Woonsocket co-op team.
Both games featured a 4-on-4, five-minute, sudden-death overtime period, as well as a five-round shootout, but neither could decide the verdict. Almeida had a say in six of the Lions’ seven goals in those games, as he netted three of them and added as many assists, and Pelosi and Polak each contributed a pair of goals.
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