Two goalies mesh in net gain for team

By Craig Larson, Globe Staff

With his lanky 6-foot frame, Matt Gorman is a prototype stand-up goalie, technically sound, playing the angles well. A few inches shorter, Josh Green is more acrobatic, often diving to make a stop but quick enough to recover and deny a second bid.

"Their styles are completely different," said Scott Harlow, their coach at Stonehill College in Easton.

Different, but similarly effective.

The pair grew up less than 15 minutes apart, Gorman in Southborough and Green in Hopkinton. Now, the seniors are backstopping a young Skyhawks team on a march to the Northeast-10 Conference playoffs.

The two are vying for the same precious starting spot in net, but they credit their friendship and ability to push each other in practice as a key to their success.

"We've both worked hard all four years, and it's made us better goalies, in my opinion," said Gorman, who prepped at St. John's of Shrewsbury.

Harlow, in his seventh year as Stonehill's head coach, agrees.

"Their relationship, how they treat each other, their work ethic is just great," said Harlow, an All-American forward at Boston College in the mid-1980s. "It's a huge part of the team. They get along great, and they try to push each other. It's made them both better goalies. It's been a pleasure having them on the team together for four years."

Gorman (4-8, 3.80 goals-against average) was on a roll in the first semester, honored twice as the NE-10 Goalie of the Week.

Away from the rink, Gorman has a unique way of staying sharp. On the day before a game he is scheduled to start, Gorman often travels to his Southborough home and, with his father Bob serving as the shooter, tends goal on a synthetic ice surface in the family's garage. "I've been doing it since my days at St. John's. It tunes me up," said Gorman, an accounting major who already has a job lined up with an accounting firm in Westborough.

A year ago, with three capable goalies on the roster, Harlow went with a three-player rotation early on, each playing one period. Green earned the majority of the work down the stretch, when the Skyhawks ripped off a nine-game winning streak.

When Green struggled early this season, Gorman received the majority of the work and flourished.

His eye-popping 60 saves in a 5-4 overtime loss at Nichols on Nov. 18 stands as the school record. But Gorman points to a 5-2 win over UMass-Dartmouth three days earlier, in which he made 32 stops, as his best effort of the season. "There were a number of quality shots," said Gorman.

"I can tell I'm playing well by how I'm reacting to shots," said Gorman, a product of the Triboro youth hockey program. "I don't think about who the shooter is. If you do that, you're guessing. I just try to take one shot at a time."

Green admittedly had trouble getting into a groove in the first semester but simplified his approach to get back in synch, and he's also been tapped twice as Goalie of the Week.

His confidence grew with a 27-save effort in a 3-3 tie against Assumption on Feb. 3, and then his 29 stops in a 9-1 victory over Franklin Pierce on Saturday as Stonehill (9-10-1) stretched its unbeaten streak to five.

"I try to challenge the shooter, using my athleticism," said Green, who played three seasons at Hopkinton High before prepping for two years at the Gunnery School in Washington, Conn. He owns a 5-2-1 mark with a 3.63 goals-against average. A philosophy major, Green is considering law school but is also interested in teaching and coaching at a prep school.

"Both have been very effective," said Harlow. "We only have three seniors, and they are two of them. We're making young mistakes in front of them. They may see 30 shots, but 20 are going to be quality chances. We're trying to get away from that. They're both mature kids, and they're leaders."

But with the postseason playoffs approaching, Harlow has to make a choice.

"I've told them, whichever is playing best come playoff time, they will be playing," said Harlow. "It's been one of my hardest things, to pick between these two. They're both ready to play and they always do the job."