BILLERICA— Solid goaltending is oftentimes the key to a hockey team earning a victory.
A 2-goal first period, along with a stout performance from goalie Corey Splaine, was enough for St. John’s of Shrewsbury to grab a 3-0 win over St. Mary’s in Monday night’s MIAA Division 1A Super 8 play-in game at Chelmsford Forum.
Splaine finished with 31 saves, and was backed by goals scored by Nick Palermo, Timothy Farley and Alexander Elias.
The Spartans outshot St. John’s, 31-25. Spartans goalie Kevin McMullen was also strong in net, tallying 22 saves.
“We watched film on St. John’s and knew they were going to be very talented on all ends,” St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee said. “I thought their goaltender (Splaine) was the difference tonight. I thought we outshot them. I thought we held the edge most of the game but their goalie kept making one save after another.
“It was a great high school hockey game,” Lee added. “It was two evenly-matched teams and they got the better of us tonight.”
The Spartans had the first solid chance at scoring the game’s first goal. St. Mary’s was awarded a power play midway through the first period but the St. John’s penalty kill answered the bell and kept the Spartans off the board.
As soon as the fifth Pioneer skater made his way back on the ice, St. John’s took advantage. Palermo scooped a pass from Dhillon Wilde and fired the puck into the back of the net for the 1-0 St. John’s lead with 6:07 to play. Three minutes later, Farley lit the lamp to bump St. John’s lead to 2-0. The Spartans went into the locker room down 2-0 at the first intermission.
“We felt both goals were breakdowns that we had,” Lee said. “We felt that was fixable. I thought we outplayed them in the first period. We felt very confident that we were going to come back.”
Both teams earned a power play in the second period, but neither scored. St. Mary’s was penalized for slashing with 7:12 on the clock. The Spartans staved off the Pioneers to keep it a 2-0 deficit. St. John’s was penalized for tripping with 2:08 remaining in the period. Davis Kinne sent a pair of slapshots in Spaine’s direction. Both were denied by Splaine to keep the Spartans off the board. St. John’s 2-0 lead stood tall after two periods.
Needing a lift on offense to keep their Super 8 run alive, the Spartans amped their attack in the third period. Kinne, Damon Maribito, Brady Carpenter and Tommy Cash all sent solid shots Splaine’s way through the first nine minutes of the period. Unfortunately for the Spartans, the senior netminder saved all of them.
“I thought we held a lot of pressure throughout the game,” Lee said. “The goaltender (Splaine) didn’t bend. I’m proud of the way we played. It wasn’t perfect but we certainly came in here and showed that we’re a team that belongs here.”
With 1:18 to play, Elias provided the dagger with an empty-netter to seal the 3-0 win.
“Our big guns came to play tonight,” Lee said. “Anthony Bono, Colin Reddy and Nick Napolitano are the guys we rely on for some offense. They played hard. Unfortunately they were a bit snake-bitten tonight but that’s the game of hockey. Sometimes you run into a hot goaltender.”
The win places St. John’s in Thursday’s Division 1A first round clash against Central Catholic.
St. Mary’s now shifts its focus to the Division 1 North bracket, where the Spartans drew the No. 2 seed and earned a first round bye. They’ll await the winner between No. 7 Winchester and No. 10 Reading.
The Spartans are the defending Division 1 state champions.
“There’s a monkey on our back now because we’re the defending state champs,” Lee said. “We’re going to go defend our title. I think there’ll be a lot of teams trying to take that from us. We’re just going to go back to work, go back to practice and hopefully we’ll be a little better the next game.”
