Framingham Flyer Squirt B Hockey Team Wins State Title

The team won the 2012 Massachusetts Tier III Hockey Championship held at Foxboro Sports Center this past weekend.

The championship win earns Framingham a spot in the New England Regional Tournament the weekend of March 16-18, representing Massachusetts. The best teams from Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York will also compete in the tournament.

Framingham, which won the District 8 tourney in November, competed in preliminary games on Friday and Saturday. Each game was hard fought. Framingham had victories over Wakefield (2-0), Canton (2-0) and a 5-2 win against Hanover, to move onto Sunday's semifinal game.

In Sunday morning’s semifinal, Waltham took an early 1-0 lead. Framingham fought back to tie the game and send it into overtime. Framingham won the game in triple overtime, 2-1.

In the championship game against Arlington, Framingham took an early 2-0 lead. Arlington fought back to tie the game and took a 3-2 lead. Late in the third period, Framingham tied the game up to send it into overtime.

In the second overtime, Framingham put the puck in the net to win the title.

This title has not been held by Framingham in 24 years. The last Framingham team to win the title was in 1988.

Members of this year's champiosnhip team are Zak LaBollita, Kevin Balewicz, Brendan Downey, Ryan Watton, Jake Despres, Georgia Parker, Hunter Balducci, Robbie Lopez, Brian Wheet, Nolan Angus, Mia LaPlante, Kate Dawson, Brad Bogovich, Brett Williams and Connor Angus.

The team was coached by head coach Brent Dawson and assistant coaches Sean Angus, Greg Balewicz, Steve Balducci and Dan Despres.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date on the latest Framingham news, or simply hit the "like" button at the top of this page. If you'd like to receive the daily newsletter with our top stories, click here.