LYNN — The St. Mary’s boys hockey team is looking to a new group of leaders to pave the way for another successful season and co-captains Owen Maguire and Chris Kolodziej are ready to embrace that role.
“We’re excited about it,” Maguire said. “Every year new guys are looked to to step up. That’s part of high school hockey, is growing up and having a bigger role to play each year. Our job this year is to lead the team from the top.”
This Spartans team certainly has the experience to help it achieve its goals. St. Mary’s is ready to turn the page after falling just short in a Division 1A “Super 8” play-in game and ending its season in the quarterfinal round of the Division 1 North tournament after an overtime loss to St. John’s. Last year’s run and others from previous postseasons have the Spartans hungry for a chance at another tournament push this winter.
“I was part of a team in eighth grade that managed to make it to the TD Garden and we lost,” Kolodziej said. “Those experiences kind of reflect how we want to get back there, be a good team and win something.
“During the whole season that’s all we thought about,” Maguire said. “Playing in the Super 8 and playoff games and getting back to that spot and seeing what we can do from there.”
With just three games under their belt this season, the Spartans are playing some solid hockey early on. St. Mary’s started the year with wins over Lowell Catholic (7-0) and Arlington Catholic (3-2) before tying Super 8 mainstay St. John’s of Shrewsbury 2-2 on Monday.
Success starts on the defensive end for the Spartans. Transfer goalkeeper Sal Caruso notched his first career shutout with the Spartans in the home opener thanks to a solid effort from St. Mary’s defense. Kolodziej, a defenemen, points to the play of sophomore Davis Kinne and the all-around chemistry at the position as some of St. Mary’s strengths.
“Davis is definitely a very talented player for us on defense,” Kolodziej said. “And I feel like we all play well as a group. We have our defensive pairs and everything but we still play as a pack. We go into every game wanting to play good defense and if we do that it transitions into offense.”
Maguire plays a key role as an offensive leader along with teammates Brady Carpenter, Colby Magliozzi and Christian Moran. The group’s offensive philosophy is fairly simple, says Maguire.
“We just talk about getting pucks to the net,” Maguire said. “If we do that we’ll see what happens. That’s always the goal just getting the puck on the net and from there we know we’ll score some goals.”
The hard started long before the season, and now Kolodzeij, Maguire and their teammates are ready to continue to put the final product on the ice.
“It really helps us, just the fact that we play all offseason,” Kolodzeij said. “We work hard during the summer and offseason workouts and that creates a bond that helps grow the team and makes us our best.
“We’re taking it one game at a time,” Maguire said. “We want to win every game that we can. I think one of our biggest strengths right away is that we’re a really close-knit group. We love each other, we love being on a team together and it really translates onto the ice. That chemistry helps us play our best.”
St. Mary’s (2-0-1) plays Austin Prep in the opening round of Christie Serino Christmas Classic at Malden’s Valley Forum Friday (7).
