St. Mary’s hockey looks to keep postseason run going

Last season, the St. Mary’s hockey team came within inches of pulling a gigantic upset in the Division 1 North tournament against Westford Academy, ringing a shot off the goalpost in overtime before falling to the Grey Ghosts later in that overtime session.For the Spartans to get back to the postseason this year, they will have to ride the backs of a talented senior class as well as a group of underclassmen who will have to grow on the job.”There’s a lot of new faces,” St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee said. “We have a number of talented players that are underclassmen that have a chance to play and a nice group of talented seniors.”Graduation hit the Spartans hard, especially on the blue line, where St. Mary’s returns only one starter in Nick Vecchia. St. Mary’s also will deal with the exit of leading scorer Zak Borowski, along with fellow forwards Corey Lee, Anthony Struppa and Tommy Adams, and goaltender Frank McCormick, who transferred to Proctor Academy.”We definitely have a lot of holes to fill,” Lee said. “But we had 50 kids try out, so the numbers are great.”But the Spartans aren’t without some battle-tested veterans, led by senior John Baldwin, who finished second to Borowski on the team in points. He will be joined by fellow senior George Carey and newcomer Andrew Bates, a transfer from Marblehead, where he led the Headers in points en route to a Division 3 North crown.Corey Bartlett and James Perkins, who had a phenomenal freshman campaign, return to bolster the Spartans’ second forward unit. They will be joined by freshman Thomas Brazwell.On defense, St. Mary’s will have Vecchia and Nick Rogers comprising the top pairing with Steve Leighton, a transfer from the Lynn Jets, and Casey Goll forming the second tandem.After that, however, Lee will have some choices to make as 15 players are vying for the final six forward spots and the last defensive spots.”We only have one returning defenseman from last year, so everyone else on the blue line is really new in terms of playing time,” Lee said. “And offensively, we’re balanced but young.”Senior Dan Yetman, junior Joe Grabau and sophomore Donald Hesse will take the place of McCormick in the net, with Yetman having the most experience after splitting time with McCormick last season.Among those in the mix at forward are seniors Mike Maccario, who skated on the third line last season, and Brian Gauthier, along with junior Jesse Powers. Sophomores Cam Kennedy, Kyle Martin and Eric Rosengren will also see ice time.Lee also has a deep group of freshmen to choose from, including forwards Brendan Mageary, Mike Ristuccia and Tim Aylward and defensemen Doyle Sommerby, Nikko Markham, Julian Yourawski and Brian Wilkins.The Spartans also have their usual challenging non-conference slate along with the rigors of Catholic Central League/Large competition.St. Mary’s opens its season a week from Saturday at St. Peter-Marian. The Spartans also have non-conference dates against Super 8 finalist Malden Catholic as well as Springfield Cathedral and Division 2 South heavyweight Coyle-Cassidy.The Spartans also have return trips to the Newburyport Bank Ice Hockey Classic and the Saugus Federal Credit Union Christmas Tournament as well, along with a non-league date with Saugus, coached by former Lee assistant Chris Connors, in January.”We are excited as a staff. This is a group of kids that wants to be there and wants to learn,” Lee said. “I love the chemistry and atmosphere that we have.”