LYNN — The hot streak continues on for the St. Mary’s boys hockey team as the Spartans took down Catholic Central League rival Bishop Fenwick, 5-2, at Connery Rink on Wednesday night. With the win, St. Mary’s now hasn’t lost since opening night against Franklin.
“We made some mistakes out there, but overall we played well tonight,” said St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee. “We had a lot of guys step up and make plays when we needed them against a much-improved Fenwick team, and we’ve gotten a lot of contributions from a lot of different guys during this stretch.”
For the Spartans, Anthony Bono had two goals and an assist to pace the offense, while Tommy Cash, Colin Reddy and Jason Loeser each scored one goal. Nick Napolitano, Davis Kinne and Kyle Ouellette each had one assist. Goalie Kevin McMullen tallied 13 saves.
Kasey O’Brien led the way for Fenwick with one goal and one assist, while Jake Murphy had one goal and Derek DelVecchio had one assist. Goalie Jake Moniz made 25 saves.
“We fought hard and we had some chances, but in the end we made too many mistakes,” said Fenwick coach Jim Quinlan. “Give credit to St. Mary’s, they never let up and kept pressing. We took that bad penalty that led directly to a goal and also gave up a shorthanded goal, so we didn’t do ourselves any favors tonight.”
The Crusaders came out hot to start, getting the first few shots on goal and eventually drawing first blood. With just under eight minutes left in the first period, O’Brien brought the puck into the zone down the right boards and sent a perfect cross-ice pass to Murphy, who slapped a one-timer just past the outstretched blocker of McMullen to give Fenwick the 1-0 lead.
But that lead was short-lived. Just 48 seconds later, the Spartans took the puck up the ice in the same exact fashion, with Napolitano taking the puck up the right boards before firing a cross-ice one-timer to Bono to tie up the score. The 1-1 tie had a little more shelf life, but only a couple minutes later Cash made a great defensive play to block and steal a pass in the neutral zone, slip past a defender and get a breakaway opportunity. He took advantage, sniping a wrist shot into the top-right corner of the net to give St. Mary’s the lead going into the first intermission.
The Spartans were able to stretch that lead to two goals early in the second period. After Fenwick was assessed a five-minute major for boarding, the Spartans took advantage just two minutes into their powerplay. As St. Mary’s cycled the puck around the zone, it found its way onto Kinne’s stick at the left point. He fired a pass over to Ouellette at the right point, who quickly flipped a pass into the middle where Bono was waiting. He took a moment to settle the puck on his stick before throwing a wrist shot into the back of the net for a 3-1 Spartans lead.
The Spartans still had about three minutes left on the powerplay after the goal, but Fenwick dug deep and started pushing the puck the other way. The Crusaders eventually were able to take advantage of some sloppy puck play in the St. Mary’s zone when DelVecchio stole the puck behind the St. Mary’s net and fired a pass out front to O’Brien for a one-timer goal to cut the deficit to one goal. Fenwick earned two powerplays before the end of the period, but St. Mary’s killed them off to hold the lead.
“We took a couple undisciplined penalties tonight and gave up that shorty, so we certainly talked about how we need to be better on special teams going forward,” said Lee. “But at the same time, we also scored on the powerplay and scored a shorthanded goal of our own, so there are some good signs there.”
The third period is where St. Mary’s put the game out of reach. They scored a shorthanded goal less than five minutes into the period when Bono stole the puck in front of the Fenwick net, faked a shot and hit Reddy with a perfect pass for a one-timer to make it 4-2. Less than two minutes later, Loeser snapped home a goal to make it 5-2 and seal the win.
The Crusaders (1-5-2) return home to McVan/O’Keefe Memorial Rink to host Matignon on Saturday, while St. Mary’s (4-1-3) hosts Arlington Catholic in a rematch of last year’s Division 1 North semifinal on Saturday night at Connery.
