St. Mary’s boys hockey in state of equilibrium

LYNN – The St. Mary’s hockey team came into Wednesday’s game against Arlington Catholic trying to break a three-game losing skid and sweep the season series over the Cougars.Well, the Spartans did get off the snide, but not quite in the way they wanted to.The Spartans grabbed a 3-1 lead in the third period, but the line of Mike Settipani, John Humphrey and John Needham brought the Cougars back to steal a point in a 4-4 tie.”That is a top-notch Division 1 team and program,” St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee said. “A 4-4 tie against them isn’t bad.”St. Mary’s (5-4-2) looked like it was in a great position to take two points and firm up its hold on first place in the Catholic Central League when James Perkins gave the Spartans a 3-1 lead at the 2:11 mark of the third.But the Cougars’ second unit didn’t waste a whole lot of time in making some noise.Settipani’s second goal of the game 101 seconds after Perkins’ goal gave AC a much-needed boost of confidence. Just over a minute later, the trio was at it again.Humphrey sent Needham and Settipani in for a 2-on-1 against Dan Yetman. Needham waited until the last second to feed Settipani for a tap-in and his hat trick to tie the game at three.From there on, both teams turned up the intensity and began pressuring for the go-ahead goal. But Yetman and AC’s Steve Needham kept things tied.It took a pretty play from St. Mary’s Tommy Adams to break the stalemate. Adams took a pass from Anthony Struppa and flew up the left wing. His shot from the left circle was pinpoint, sailing over Needham’s shoulder and under the crossbar with 5:47 left to give St. Mary’s back the lead.But the Cougars weren’t quite ready to go away as Humphrey got them back even with 2:43 left when his pass from the left corner hit off a stick and went past a startled Yetman.The finish was in stark contrast to how most of the first two periods played out as both teams struggled to get any continuity on offense. Yet each team had only one power play in the contest.St. Mary’s struck for the only goal of the first period just past the midpoint when Corey Lee banged home an Adams rebound for his sixth goal of the season.The Cougars got the equalizer late in a second period that was filled with ragged play at best. Humphrey sprung Settipani on a breakaway; he finished it with a neat tuck around Yetman’s right pad at 12:37.St. Mary’s went back in front in the final moments of the second when Struppa’s blast from the left point hit off the kickplate behind the Cougar net and wound up on John Baldwin’s stick for an easy shot into an open net with four seconds left on the clock.