St. Mary’s boys hockey defeats Hingham

LYNN – It was one of those statement games that the St. Mary’s hockey team can look back on at the end of the year and realize it is among the big boys in Division 1 hockey.Putting together a comprehensive effort for three periods, the Spartans exploded for four second-period goals en route to a 5-1 win over Hingham at Connery Rink on Wednesday.”This gives us a lot of confidence that we can play with the best teams,” St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee said. “That was three complete periods.”The Spartans (3-1-0) took advantage of the Harbormen’s regular trips to the penalty box, converting on three of seven chances with the power play, including two markers in the second period.Beyond that, it was a solid effort by the defense and in goal by Bailey McBurnie, who stopped 16 of the 17 shots he faced on the night.”We took advantage of their mistakes and did a great job on special teams,” Lee said.It didn’t take long for the Spartans to flash their power play as Hingham’s Pat Cahill went off at 3:36 for roughing. A minute later, defenseman Andrew Markham’s blast broke off the pads of John Grenier and trickled home for the junior’s first career goal and a 1-0 lead.St. Mary’s easily could have added to the lead but Grenier made a bunch of quality stops as the Spartans took their 1-0 lead into the first intermission.Hingham wrestled away a little bit of momentum early in the second when Patrick Mannion picked up a power play goal at 1:21 to tie the game. The Harbormen, however, took penalties 33 seconds apart moments later and the Spartans jumped on the 5-on-3.Markham unloaded his second big blast of the game, beating Grenier clean at 3:19 to make it 2-1 St. Mary’s.It stayed a two-goal gap until St. Mary’s broke it open later in the period.Frank Moreschi fired home a Cam O’Neill rebound at 10:46 to make it 3-1. Two minutes later, Nikko Markham’s power play goal made it 4-1 and Eric MacAdams picked up his first career goal with 24 seconds left in the period.”We stayed pretty disciplined,” Lee said. “And it seems that we play our best against the better teams.”