St. Mary’s boys hockey overpowers Fenwick

LYNN – Playing in Division 1 is a new experience for the Bishop Fenwick hockey team, and Wednesday, at Connery Rink, St. Mary’s gave the Crusaders a pretty good example of what it’s like.”I think the thing for us that was the toughest to adjust to was the overall speed of the game,” said Fenwick coach Dan Lynch after the Spartans’ 8-2 victory. “I can’t blame the kids for that. It’s my job to get them prepared to play, and I didn’t prepare them well.”St. Mary’s, after a tough season-opening loss to defending Division 1A champion Malden Catholic, was ready for this one.”We came out strong,” said coach Mark Lee, regarding the three-goal opening period. “It was a hard-fought first period. We have a lot of new faces, a lot of kids getting to know each other. But I’m excited about the chemistry of this team, both on and off the ice.”Lee was also happy to see new goalie Bailey MacBurnie get his first varsity win, noting that he had a shutout for two and a half periods (Fenwick’s late goals were scored on backup Stephen Polinsky).St. Mary’s was off and running before the game was four minutes old. Coming off a shorthanded situation, Jarrod Fitzpatrick, with help from Bryan Wilkins and Thomas Braswell, got the puck at the blue line and skated in alone on Fenwick goalie Pat O’Leary, and beat him cleanly. Cam O’Neill scored the first of his two on the night at 5:24 on a shot from the blue line through a screen, and Tim Aylward got the third one at 12:23.The Crusaders settled down in the second period, and almost got out of it unscathed. However at the 11:11 mark, O’Neill scored an unassisted goal, winning a faceoff to O’Leary’s right and rifling a wrister that the goalie didn’t even see as it went by him.The combination of Brendan Mageary and Bobby Mullins was responsible for the next two Spartan goals. First it was Mageary, on a nice feed from Mullins from about five feet in front of the net. Mageary returned the favor at 4:54, feeding Mullins for his goal.The Spartans got their seventh goal at 8:54, with Jordan Manthorne scoring with an assist from Nikko Markham (one of two assists for Markham).Fenwick got a pair of goals late in the third period, one from Andrew Young, from Jake Brennan and Chris Minter, at 11:04; and the other from Mike Cipriani from Young and Minter at 11:53.Chris Butler, from Markham, scored with a second left in the game.If there was a downside to the win, it’s that the Spartans lost Braswell in the first period with a shoulder injury.”He hurt it during the Malden Catholic game,” Lee said, “and he got bumped around early in the game tonight, too. It’s day to day with him, I guess.”Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].