Hand boys' hockey coach Mark Andreucci has drawn out a road map for his team. When his team veers from that path, even if it finds a 7-3 victory, Andreucci isn't going to be pleased.

"We are clearly not happy with today's performance because we are capable of much more that that," said Andreucci. "Offensively and defensively, we have a system that we have been sticking to…and today they did not stick to the system we have in place."

The Hand boys' ice hockey team hosted the Sheehan Titans in a Southern Connecticut Conference interdivision matchup at DiLungo Rink in East Haven on Feb. 26. Despite scoring seven goals Hand (9-10-1), a Division II team, struggled to separate from the Titans (6-12-0) in the first two periods. Sheehan needed two wins in its final three games to secure a spot in the Division III playoffs, but fell short, losing 7-3.

The Tigers jumped on Sheehan early in the first period. Senior forward Nick Kruczek found junior forward Mitch Brown just in front of the crease for an easy score and a 1-0 Hand lead. Three and half minutes later, sophomore forward Joe Deane redirected a Jonas Thelin slapshot between the five-hole of Titans' goalie Will Valleau for another score. The Tigers led 2-0 with 7:23 to play in the first period.

However, Sheehan didn't lay down, instead quickly responding as the Titans' Nick Capozzi sent a wrist shot from the right circle at Hand keeper Dan Tagliarini, who stopped the initial shot, but left the rebound on the doorstep and Sheehan's Ryan Kiernan put it home, cutting the lead to 2-1 with 4:57 remaining in the opening period.

"That was a hungry team. They are battling to make the Division III tournament," said Andreucci. "They need to still win two more games. The message was: just don't take them lightly."

Hand came out of the locker room firing in the second period. However, Valleau stood up to the task and stonewalled the Tigers long enough for his offense to get Sheehan back in the game. Hand's Mike Deane took a hooking penalty at the 13:40 mark of the second period and the Titans made them pay. Aaron Grimadli stole the puck in the Tigers' defensive zone and sent a shot on net. Tagliarini made the save, but lost track of the puck that was sitting right on the line. Sheehan's Mario Yepez merely tapped the puck over the line, tying the game at 2-2 three minutes into the period.

"The kids came together as a team and really showed what they were made of," said Sheehan Coach Dave Festa. "You could tell the excitement after the first period in the locker room. It was like, 'we can play with these guys.'"

The Tigers quickly regained the lead when senior Mike Berestecky found Jarrett Rennie in the high slot. Rennie fired a low wrist that Valleau couldn't corral and Hand again had the lead at 3-2 with 10:45 remaining in the second period.

"I think [shooting low] was an adjustment on their part. We were behind a little bit, we didn't play up to our potential," Andreucci said. "I think they started to try to figure it out themselves."

But just like in the first period, the Titans had an answer. Grimaldi forced another Hand turnover in the defensive zone, this time taking the puck right to the net. Grimaldi's shot sailed past Tagliarini's top left side to tie the game again at 3-3.

"We are definitely going to start tightening up on our defensive zone coverage," Andreucci said.

With 3:49 remaining in the second period, senior co-captain Tyler Bauer dropped a pass to Mike Deane, who beat Valleau to his glove side, giving Hand the advantage back 4-3.

In the third, Nico Capone sent a hard pass across the slot to Ryan DeMatteo, who quickly redirected the puck past Valleau to give the Tigers a 5-3 edge. Hand's next goal came while a man short. Bauer found himself 1-on-1 with Valleau and went to the backhand for the short-handed score. The Tigers led 6-3 with 9:04 remaining.

"I was just trying to score. I've actually had a couple breakaways that last two games and I hit the crossbar," said Bauer. "I figured I got to get one eventually. It felt nice, especially getting it short-handed."

Hand took five penalties in the game and though the penalty-killing unit only allowed one goal and scored one of its own, Bauer was none too pleased.

"We took a lot of penalties that we shouldn't be taking, especially with the postseason coming up," Bauer said.

Rennie scored Hand's final of four unanswered goals in the third off of passes from Bauer and Eric Williams.

"We started out pretty lackadaisical because we knew they were a Division III opponent and we are used to playing higher tempo teams," said Bauer. "Finally we just had a talk in the locker room and decided we needed to step it up. It was a mix of the coaches and the older kids. We just knew we needed this win to move up in the standings for the postseason to get a good seed. We just found a way to win."

Rennie had two goals and an assist for Hand and Bauer added a goal and two helpers.