Top-ranked MC puts pedal down in 6-1 win over St. Mary’s

LYNN – After finding itself tied at 1-1 following the first period against St. Mary’s on Tuesday at Connery Rink, Malden Catholic regrouped and put the accelerator squarely on the floorboard.The top-ranked Lancers put 24 shots on goal in the second period, scoring three times to break the game open as Peabody native Alex Minter had two goals and Saugus’ Mike Vecchione had three assists to help pace MC to a 6-1 win.”Sometimes we’re interested in playing to show how good we are and not to win the game,” MC coach Chris Serino said. “And we did that for a while. But in the second period, we forechecked and kept the puck in their end.”The Spartans (3-1-0) hung tough through the opening period, but simply couldn’t match MC’s speed and talent on this night. Despite the outcome, St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee saw some things he liked.”We’re a young team, and that showed (Tuesday),” Lee said. “That’s the class of the state that we just played, and we’re better for it.”The Lancers didn’t waste a lot of time in putting pressure on Spartan netminder Dan Yetman, who made 40 saves despite being under constant duress. Relentless pressure eventually resulted in MC taking a 1-0 lead at 4:17 when Andrew Cerretani scored the first of his two goals on a Craig Carbonneau rebound.St. Mary’s kept plugging away and eventually forced the Lancers into taking penalties. Cerretani was called for high-sticking at 6:51, but the Spartans couldn’t capitalize. But when Cerretani was sent off again at 9:57, this time for boarding, St. Mary’s did take advantage.Hard work beside the net by Andrew Bates led to a loose puck on a rebound chance. Jon Baldwin was able to shovel the second chance past John Carbonneau to tie the game with 2:56 left in the period.”We were in the zone for nearly the entire period, but when they had the puck, we let them come out with it,” Serino said.The Lancers took the ice in the second period and were a changed team, holding St. Mary’s without a shot for nearly 10 minutes.MC put seven shots on Yetman in the first two minutes of the second, and it took a bevy of spectacular saves from the senior to keep the game tied. And as the shots piled up, the frustration continued to mount for those players clad in MC uniforms.And even when MC beat Yetman, it came away denied, as Greg Crovo’s shot from the point rang off the right post midway through the period. But the law of averages was on the Lancers’ side, and after 17 shots on net, MC finally took the lead when Minter scored on a Justin Sensabaugh rebound at 8:49.The onslaught continued, and MC made it 3-1 at 11:45 when Marc Adams forced a turnover in the St. Mary’s zone. Cerretani picked up the puck and ripped a snap shot over Yetman’s glove to make it 3-1.Just over a minute later, with Malden Catholic now on the power play, Vecchione and Minter combined for the Peabody resident’s second goal of the game and a 4-1 lead after two.”We made a lot of mistakes and you can’t do that against a team like that,” Lee said.Craig Carbonneau upped the lead to 5-1 early in the third when he toe-dragged around a St. Mary’s defenseman and beat Yetman with a quick shot under the crossbar. Tony Serino completed the scoring at 7:20 with a shorthanded goal, assisted by Vecchione.