BOSTON– When you’re in the midst of a midseason funk, the Catholic Conference powerhouse and MIAA “Super 8” mainstay BC High hockey team is the last opponent you want to see on your schedule. Still, there were positive takeaways for shorthanded St. Mary’s in Sunday afternoon’s 2-0 loss to the Eagles at UMass Boston’s Edward T. Barry Ice Rink.
“We continue to start slow,” Spartans coach Mark Lee said. “We had a sluggish first period and they got on the board. But, again, I thought we played great in the second and third. It does make a difference when your two leading scorers and a starting defenseman are out. We’re undermanned but the guys who showed up (Sunday) played really well. We battled and gave ourselves an opportunity.”
BC High’s Matt Creamer put the Eagles up 1-0 five minutes into the contest on Brian Bulger’s assist. The Eagles held tight to their 1-0 lead for the next 39 minutes, before Aidan Carey’s empty-netter with less than a second left rounded out the scoring.
“That’s the difference for us,” Lee said. “We need to find a way to play 15 more minutes. We play two good periods and we seem to have a lackluster period.”
St. Mary’s has lost four of its last six, with one tie and one win over that span. The Spartans started the season 8-0-1.
“I think we had some real early success and maybe we were reading our own press clippings,” Lee said. “We took the foot off the pedal a little bit and other teams have taken advantage of that. (Sunday) was a good start. We really played great in the defensive zone, limited their opportunities and that’s going to help us in the future. We’re starting to realize that we’re only as good as our work ethic. We need to give better effort and it’s going to happen.”
Through the early minutes of the first period, the Eagles dominated possession and kept Spartans goalie Sal Caruso (27 saves) on his toes. With 9:36 to go in the frame, BC High’s efforts paid dividends thanks to Creamer’s tally.
Meanwhile, the Spartans struggled to get anything going on the offensive end. Dante D’Ambrosio couldn’t get a handle on a pass in front of the net and Brady Bullock’s shot was saved by BC High goalie Tom Kiesewetter (19 saves).
Christian Moran skated his way through BC High’s defense alone on Kiesewetter midway through the second period. Moran’s shot was to no avail and Davis Kinne, who looked to clean up the rebound, but couldn’t convert. Kinne’s slapshot with 36 seconds left in the second period hit the crossbar, keeping BC High’s 1-0 lead intact.
Kiesewetter’s shoulder-pad save on Owen Maguire’s shot from just outside the circle with 2:10 remaining denied St. Mary’s on its last clean threat. The Spartans used a timeout and pulled Caruso out of his post through the final minutes but Carey’s empty-netter put St. Mary’s away.
“In the Division 1 category there aren’t a whole lot of big scores,” Lee said. “It’s about defense. We think defense wins. We gave ourselves an opportunity. Unfortunately, with that sluggish start we fell behind and never recovered. Hopefully we’ll get healthy and learn from some of these mistakes.”
The Spartans, now at 9-4-2 on the season, shift gears toward preparing for Wednesday’s Catholic Central League tilt at Archbishop Williams (7:10). St. Mary’s defeated Williams, 2-1, in the prior meeting between the two this season.
“That’s a big league game for us,” Lee said. “We’ll have to find a way to get it together.”
