St. Mary’s hockey loses in shootout

NEWBURYPORT – It was another valuable lesson in tournament hockey for the St. Mary’s hockey team on Friday at Graf Rink in the Bresnahan Division finals of the 14th Newburyport Bank Ice Hockey Classic.After being skated out of the rink by Lincoln-Sudbury for two periods, the Spartans jumped into gear in the third, tying the game late in regulation.. But Warrior goalie Liam McInerney held the fort in a shootout as L-S picked up a 3-2 win.”We decided to play one period of hockey and we paid for it,” St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee said.The Warriors (13-4-3) clinched the No. 7 seed in the Division 2 North tournament and will play North Andover while the Spartans (9-8-3) will wait for their seed in the Division 1 North sectional today.L-S came out and dominated the play from the beginning, constantly harrying Spartan goalie Joe Grabau. After being held at bay for half the period, L-S finally found a chink in the Spartan defense.Connor Quinn helped start a 3-on-2 in the St. Mary’s end that resulted in Garrett Moore chipping home a loose puck to give L-S a 1-0 lead after one.The Warriors continued to control the play at the outset of the second period, hemming St. Mary’s in its own end throughout the first five minutes. But Grabau was keeping his team in the game until Quinn returned to the scene.After forcing a turnover in the St. Mary’s zone, Quinn worked a perfect give-and-go with Moore, finishing the play off with a nifty shot inside the left post to make it 2-0.At the other end of the rink, McInerney looked like he was well on his way to shutout No. 7 of the season, stopping all 13 shots he faced in the first two periods.”Their goalie was every bit as good as he was made out to be,” Lee said.After being dominated for two periods, the Spartans needed a boost entering the third and they got it on the very first shift of the period. Jon Baldwin scored his 13th goal of the season, assisted by George Carey and Andrew Bates, just nine seconds into the period.Baldwin’s goal was just the medicine St. Mary’s needed as it swarmed around McInerney for the rest of the game. But the senior was able to stuff every chance St. Mary’s had until the late moments.Derek Vecchia sent Tommy Braswell in against McInerney with just under three minutes left. Braswell fanned on his shot but it fooled McInerney enough that it slid through his pads to tie the game with 2:58 left.”We played two dreadful periods and then we come out in the third and played like were capable of,” Lee said.The game stayed tied through regulation with the winner being decided in a five-man shootout.Quinn and Sean Ashe gave the Warriors a 2-0 lead through three rounds before Bates scored on St. Mary’s fourth chance. But Charlie DeFrancisco iced it for the Warriors on their final shot.