St. Mary’s icemen fall in Newburyport tourney in shootout

NEWBURYPORT – The waiting game now begins for the St. Mary’s and Newburyport hockey teams.With the MIAA set to release the North sectional hockey tournament pairings today, the Clippers already know they’re slated to be the No. 4 seed in Division 2 North and await their opponent. For St. Mary’s the wait will be a little different.The Spartans will appeal their tournament ban in front of the Ice Hockey Committee this afternoon in hopes of being allowed to enter the Division 1 North sectional.On Friday at Graf Rink, the two put on quite a show for the capacity crowd in attendance for the Bresnahan Division final of the Newburyport Bank Ice Hockey Classic. Neither team could score in regulation thanks to the brilliant goaltending of St. Mary’s Donald Hesse and Newburyport’s Anthony Federico. The Clippers, though, scored twice in a shootout and Federico stopped all four St. Mary’s tries to earn his team a 1-0 win.”We just couldn’t find the net,” St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee said. “The effort wasn’t what it needed to be and Newburyport wanted it more than us.”The defending Division 2 state champ Clippers (14-4-2) were looking for a test going into the tournament and coach Paul Yameen left the ice knowing that’s exactly what the Spartans gave him and then some.”St. Mary’s is a good team,” Yameen said. “That’s probably as good a test as we could have had going into the tournament. I don’t think either team deserved to lose that game, it was fantastic.”For two periods on Friday, neither team could get much going offensively as they combined for a total of 18 shots on goal in the first 30 minutes. The last 15, however, would give the fans their money’s worth.The Clippers went on the power play early when James Perkins was called for hooking. Newburyport had several chances in close but Hesse came up with the stops. Later in the period, Derek Freeman had a breakaway but Hesse made a slick poke check to thwart the senior forward’s chance.With five minutes left, the Spartans (13-8-1) had their best chance of the game when Perkins had a 2-on-1 with Brendan Mageary but Federico slid across his crease and made a stellar pad save to keep the game scoreless.In the shootout, Cam Roy and Jeff Wile scored on the Clippers first two chances. Federico then stopped Bobby Mullins and Perkins in the third and fourth round for the Spartans to clinch victory for Newburyport.