Spartans steam past Newburyport to clinch tourney berth

NEWBURYPORT – That sound heard around Graf Rink as the clock ran down on Tuesday was the St. Mary’s hockey team letting out a collective sigh of relief.With the chance of not making the state tournament for the first time in 15 years staring them in the face, the Spartans put together one of their best games of the season against Division 2 North power Newburyport. Five different players scored goals as St. Mary’s rolled to a 5-1 demolition of the Clippers in a Bresnahan Division semifinal at the 14th Newburyport Bank Ice Hockey Classic.The Spartans (9-8-2) will play either Danvers or Lincoln-Sudbury on Friday (7) in the finals, while the Clippers (12-4-4) will play in the consolation game at 5.”We put together three complete periods of hockey (Tuesday),” St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee said. “A lot of these kids know about the streak we have going and they didn’t want to be the ones that didn’t make it. I know this, I’ll sleep a lot better.”Facing a Newburyport team that had a pair of all-Cape Ann League forwards (Kevin Holmes and Collin Cusack) and had already beaten Malden Catholic this season, the Spartans used a suffocating defense to stonewall the Clippers all night.”We just didn’t have any legs,” Newburyport coach Paul Yameen said. “Playing three games in four days is tough at any level and we knew this would be a tough stretch for us.”It didn’t take long for the teams to get going as the first period turned into a track meet with goaltenders Donald Hesse of St. Mary’s and Clipper freshman Chris Eiserman being the targets.The teams combined for 24 shots on goal in the first 15 minutes of frantic action. The Clippers actually went in front at the 4:52 mark when Kyle McElroy’s dump-in on a power play snuck through Hesse for his 15th goal of the season.But the Spartans rebounded and began to test Eiserman heavily. And off a face-off just past the midpoint of the period, sophomore defenseman Cam Kennedy scored on a wrist shot along the ice to tie the game at 1-1.”We let a soft one in early. But then we went back to work and were able to finish the period strong,” Lee said.Less than two minutes later, St. Mary’s struck again.Off a scrum in the left face-off circle, Corey Bartlett fired a backhander that somehow piggybacked its way through Eiserman’s pads and trickled just across the goal line to put St. Mary’s in front for good.Freshman Tommy Braswell gave the Spartans even more momentum with 1:29 left in the first when he took a loose puck in the neutral zone and raced down ice for a shot that beat Eiserman glove side.The Clippers tried to make a game of it in the second but Hesse was there at every turn.No two saves were more critical than Hesse’s stops on a pair of Holmes chances at the end of a Newburyport power play just short of halfway through the period.”He’s been outstanding all year,” Lee said about Hesse. “We’ve been a little snakebitten and that’s cost us a few games. But he’s been a rock back there all year.”St. Mary’s then took advantage of another ill-timed turnover when James Perkins stole a Gaven LaValley clearing pass at the Clipper blue line and scored on a backhander at 9:47 to make it 4-1 after two.Newburyport came out with renewed vigor in the third, putting together its best offensive attack of the game. But Hesse again came up with key saves.Twice he stopped McElroy in close and threw in a third of the night against Holmes for good measure. George Carey then put the game away with 4:00 left when he took a Jon Baldwin pass and ripped a shot over Eiserman’s blocker to make it 5-1 and finally allow the Spartans to smile a bit.”To beat a team as good as Newburyport and to qualify against a team like that gives us a lot of confidence as coaches,” Lee said. “I loved the effort that the kids had (Tuesday).”