ARLINGTON, Mass. – Heading into their second tilt of the year, Arlington and Reading were heading in different directions since their 3-3 tie back on January 6th.

The 12th-ranked Rockets had rattled off six straight wins, outscoring their opponents 27-2 in the process, while the host Spy Ponders had gone 2-3-1 in the same span, slipping to fourth in the Middlesex League’s Liberty Division.

Of course a journey can be altered on any given night and 11th-ranked Arlington, playing with a full roster for only the second time all season, rerouted themselves with a key 3-2 victory at Ed Burns Arena.

“It’s the first time we’ve had our whole lineup…in like a month,” said Arlington coach John Messuri. “We’ve only had our whole team together once all year between sickness and injury.

“Anytime you beat Reading, you’ve got to grind. [Reading coach] Mark [Doherty] does such a good job with them. The Tobin brothers, Thompson, they grind, all those kids grind. We said coming in it’s going to be one foot at a time all night. That’s what it was. It was a battle.”

The Spy Ponders got the first foothold of the game at 8:01 of the first period when Mic Curran got the final say on a bounding puck in front of the Reading crease.

Less than three minutes into the second Arlington really dug in thanks for freshman Dara Conneely who flew in on the left wing and though his initially effort was saved by Sean Dynan on the left side, he quickly grabbed the rebound and dashed around the back of the net for a pretty wraparound to the empty right side for a 2-0 margin.

At 6:56 of the second, the Spy Ponders increased their lead on the power play after Jeff Gorman and Kevin Ouellette crisply dealt back-and-forth a few times along the left side before Ouelette unloaded from the right circle.

“Me and Gorman were working at the top,” said Ouellette. “[Messuri] teaches us to set up on the power play. [Steve] Liakos did a great job on a front screen and I just got a shot and it found the back of the net.”

Given the way in which they were controlling the game at the time, a 3-0 lead seemed mighty for Arlington, but it was extremely short-lived as the Rockets got a response just ten seconds later from John Tierney to make it 3-1, a score they would take into the third period.

“We just wanted to be on the D side of the puck,” said Messuri on the gameplan heading into the final fifteen minutes. “We were really trying to get to five [goals]. I told them at the end of the second, “Forget about three-to-one, I think this game might be to five.” I like putting that thought in their head, trying to get to a number versus trying to sit on a number. That’s the way I’ve always played. That’s what we were thinking.”

Arlington was staunch defensively, backed by a solid effort from goalie Jack Pinard, but they were unable to get a fourth goal, let alone that fifth.

With just under five minutes to play the Rockets made things interesting when Nick Tango picked up a rebound on the slot and took advantage of a wide-open left side of the net.

The Spy Ponders continued their strong defensive efforts and took a giant stride towards victory when they proficiently killed a Reading power play in the final three minutes of play.

“The first 7, 8, 10 minutes couldn’t have gone better,” said Messuri of the third period. “Then they get that goal and I thought we were pretty composed after that.”

“It’s big,” said Ouellette of the league win. “We had a couple of tough games early…It’s good to bounce back against a good team like Reading.”

PINNING THEM BACK: Despite seeing only 17 shots on the night, Arlington’s Jack Pinard was a massive asset for the home team on the night, flashing the leather on numerous occasions to keep the biscuit from touching twine.

None may have been bigger than a snap-glove save made on Tierney in the first period that kept the Spy Ponders up a goal and seemed to set a tone for their defensive efforts on the night.

“He was awesome tonight, just like every night,” said Ouelette. “He’s stepped up as a sophomore and he wins the battle in net almost every night.”

“The ultimate difference tonight is that Pinard’s save percentage was probably 85-87% tonight,” said Messuri, off by a mere percentage point. “If we get that with our forwards, we’re pretty good up front.”

Along with fellow netminder Ryan Ouellette, Pinard worked with their coach for an hour on Tuesday night and the end result proved to be a big one for the Spy Ponders who kept themselves in the Liberty Division hunt.

“He was comfortable in there, he was in charge of his net and he did a good job,” said Messuri. “He’s a sophomore, we’ve got another sophomore in Ouellette who is a good goalie. The two of them are working hard. I spent an hour just with the two of them last night. I’m on a lot of Advil, but they’re on a lot of good mojo right now.”