After rugged month, Crusaders look to regroup for stretch run

PEABODY – Patience has become an important word for Bishop Fenwick.The growing pains for a young squad halfway through year two of Division 1 play are evident – after all, the Crusaders are 4-26-2 in the division so far. But the signs are there that Fenwick has the talent to compete at this level.Take Saturday’s home contest against Archbishop Williams, for example. Shaking off a 2-0 deficit against a top-15 opponent, the Crusaders took control of the late stages of the first period. After a pair of challenging shots from Drew Thibodeau created a faceoff, Thibodeau funneled a perfect cross-crease pass to co-captain Mike Napolitano for his first of two goals that carved the lead in half with just 31 seconds left.”We’re showing signs of getting there,” said Fenwick head coach Dan Lynch. “In the first period, we played well, scored and gained momentum. It was the best first period we’ve had in a long time.”However, good teams know what has to be done to nip the momentum transfer in the bud. Already holding a speed advantage, the Bishops amped up their already oppressive forechecking and bottled up the Crusaders in their own zone for much of the second period. Rifling over 20 shots on beleaguered goalie Pat O’Leary, Archbishop Williams soared to a 5-1 lead after two and rolled to a convincing 7-2 victory.Williams (now 6-2-3) was led by juniors Nick Menzel and Mike Sorenti with two goals and an assist apiece. Mike Davis, Jake Reardon and Ryan Dunn added two-point days in the victory.As can be expected from a young team like Fenwick, consistency is an issue.”We have two senior defensemen (Jake Brennan and P.J. Usalis), and after that multiple sophomores who are just on the cusp of understanding how to play at a high level,” Lynch said. “They’re learning to read and react down low and we’re continuing to work on that.”With 40 saves, O’Leary stood on his head to keep Fenwick in the game but the junior still yielded some stray rebounds that made his day more difficult. Eradicating these issues are high on Lynch’s list for building the Crusaders into a quality program.”After a great first period, we got into some bad habits in the second period then played a good third,” Lynch said. “We can’t play like that, we have to play 45 minutes. We can’t take a period off.”And after a rugged schedule – “We did it by design, but we expected our record (now 2-10) to be in a little different direction,” Lynch said – Fenwick now has a stretch of games against compatible competition with a postseason berth still in sight.”We need to keep positive and moving forward,” said Lynch, who called in his captains for a short post-game meeting, which was followed a closed-door chat by those captains with their teammates. “We’re trying to get to that level of established Division 1 teams with a significant hockey history, and you’re not going to do that in 10 or 15 games. But given the solid young players we have, we can do something special.”