Ponaganset Wins Rhode Island Division III Hockey Championship

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Ryan Watts scored a pair of goals and Curtis Briggs made 22 saves as Ponaganset won their first hockey championship in 16 years with a 3-1 victory over West Warwick/Exeter/West Greenwich, sweeping the best-of-three series at Meehan Auditorium.
After a back-and-forth first half of the opening period, Watts, Ponaganset’s leading scorer, gave the Chieftains (21-1) a 1-0 lead 9:28 into the contest by beating Wizards (17-5) goaltender Jared Olson with his twin brother, Nate Watts, collecting an assist.
The super-freshman ballooned the Chieftains’ lead to 2-0, with less than five minutes remaining in the second stanza, as he beat Olson, again, with senior co-captain Nate Morin and junior Josh D’Alessio notching helpers.

WW/EWG finally solved Briggs, who stymied them in Game 1 on Friday, when Alex Ventura ripped the puck past the Ponaganset sophomore net-minder for a power-play goal at the 7:06 mark of the third period, as Dan Skorski and Zach Magiera picked up assists.

Burrillville Broncos lost game two 2-1 in overtime on the road and will settle game three at home Monday night at Levy Rink against a fired up Prout Hockey team.