Not One but two!
On December 23, 1964 something unusual happened in a Rhode Island Interscholastic League hockey game between North Providence High and Cranston East High at the Rhode Island Auditorium. North Providence coach Dick Ernst came up with some drastic innovations to stop the high scoring Cranston East offense. Ernst sent two goalies into the Cougar net as the teams took the ice. Steve Izzi, the Cougar's regular goalie, was equipped with a goalie's usual equipment. Steve McKell, the teams second-string goalie, wore a facemask and a netminder's glove.
Ernst's idea was to cover the Cougar goal in hopes the Thunderbolts would be unable to find "holes" between the goalies. After only 55 seconds of play, Cranston East's Rich McLaughlin scored the games first goal and before the period ended the Thunderbolts owed a 5-1 lead. That ended Ernst's two-goalie experiment but Ernst was not done. During portions of the second and third periods he pulled his regular goalie from the ice in favor of a sixth offensive player. Cranston East didn't score during the last minute of play of the second period while the North Providence cage was empty but they notched two goals in the third period with the Cougar goalie on the bench.
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Cranston East won the game 12-4 with Joe Cavanagh leading all scorers with 4 goals and 5 assists followed by linemates Rich McLaughlin's 2 goals and 5 assists and Dan Demichele's 2 goals and 3 assists. High scoring Mark McNeilly scored all 4 goals for the Cougars. All four scorers earned First Team All-State honors at seasons end. The Thunderbolts cruised to the league title that season with a 17-4-1 record scoring 131 goals while giving up only 29 goals. However, they were upset in the finals of the playoffs by La Salle Academy 5-4 in game one (on an overtime goal by Tom Sheehan) and a 4-3 decision in game two sweeping the series.
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