Athlete Of The Week: Brody Bassett

ORLEANS – For the Nauset boys hockey team’s senior night on Jan. 28, senior Brody Bassett put on a show in helping to deliver a 2-1 overtime win against Scituate.

The Warriors trailed 1-0 during the second period when a Nauset shot hit the very inside of the post and bounced back through the crease, a shot the referees instantly called no goal. With the home team and fans roiling in disbelief, Bassett made everyone forget all about it only moments later.

With Nauset pushing in Scituate’s defensive zone, Bassett first hit a defender in front of the net. A few seconds after, he found the puck and sent it through for the 1-1 equalizer.

“I laid a big body, puck just kind of squirted out right in front of me, shot it top right, tried to get it off as quick as I could,” Bassett said. “And then yeah, that's probably the biggest goal I feel like I've had this season. That was a really big goal. That felt amazing.”

In the third period, Bassett served a 10-minute penalty (the referees ruling that he had said something to them). It did little to stop his momentum. The game went to overtime, and with just 35 seconds left in the extra period, Bassett found fellow senior Jake Eldredge for the winner on senior night.

“I wanted that,” Bassett said. “I wanted the goal. If not, I wanted to be out there. I wanted to be the difference, and happy that I can make that happen. We can make that happen.”

Bassett stepped up in a major way as the Warriors dealt with injuries throughout the season. With key contributors like Eldredge (the team’s captain) missing time, Bassett’s ascent has played a significant role as Nauset seeks to repeat as state champions. They’re 13-1-2 and ranked No. 1 in Division 3.

“He's definitely taken a lot of ownership as far as being a leader for the team, and especially when [Eldredge] was out he really took ownership on being relied upon to take some big minutes, and especially he found his game on the offensive side, which is huge,” Nauset head coach Connor Brickley said. “And that's been the name of the game for us to try to unlock that piece, and it's really helping our team move forward.”