LYNN — It may have taken an extra three months, but the St. Mary’s boys hockey team finally got to celebrate its 2019-2020 season Monday night with its annual banquet at Spinellis.
“We had this event planned for the middle of April originally,” said head coach Mark Lee. “Obviously with everything going on we’ve had to wait an extra three months, but we’re just happy that we were finally able to do this.”
The Spartans had a bit of an up-and-down season this past winter, bookended with a strong start and a strong finish. St. Mary’s came out of the gate on fire to start the year, going 8-1-1 in its first 10 games. The middle of the season saw the Spartans get hit with the injury bug and lose a number of key players for an extended period. But as the season came to a close and players got back on the ice, things picked up again. The Spartans ended up finishing the season at 13-8-2, notching a first-round playoff win over a strong Central Catholic team before bowing out to eventual Division 1 North champion Belmont in overtime.
“We started the season off with high hopes as we knew that we had a strong, talented team,” said Lee. “Obviously things didn’t go as we hoped, but the guys never stopped working and finished the year strong.”
The Spartans were led by a strong senior class, with longtime players like Luke Sargent, Will Foglietta, Austin Foglietta, Chris Kolodziej, Owen Maguire, Alex Nazarian and Sal Caruso fueling the team.
“This is a great senior class,” said Lee. “There are a lot of guys who have helped the program over the years and really played some good hockey for us.”
Three of those seniors — Kolodziej, Maguire and Caruso — took home awards at Monday night’s banquet.
Caruso, who transferred to St. Mary’s from Austin Prep for his senior year, was given the Coaches Award. Caruso had a 1.38 goals against average for the season with four shutouts, good enough to earn Catholic Central League all-star recognition. Kolodziej, a senior captain, earned the Martha Ferrari Award, given to the unsung player who works hard every day for the team. Maguire, also a senior captain, was given the Patrick Reddy Award, earned by the player who most represents the pride and passion of the St. Mary’s hockey program.
The final award on the night, the team MVP award, went to sophomore Davis Kinne. Regarded as one of the top defensemen in the state, Kinne finished second on the team in points (19) and was named CCL co-MVP.
Now that the celebration of the banquet is over, it’s time to start looking ahead to next season — should there be one. The COVID-19 pandemic has already shut down summer leagues and preseason workouts for the team, as hockey remains a “high-risk” sport under the latest guidelines. But if a season does happen, Lee is feeling good about the group he has coming back.
“We’re cautiously optimistic because we have a solid group coming back,” said Lee. “Obviously we’re going to miss some of the key contributors we’ll be losing, but we also have a lot of confidence in the guys who will be here. As far as the season, it’s all a waiting game right now. Fall sports have already been pushed back, so there’s a chance our season gets affected as well. Only time will tell, but we’re hoping that things don’t get thrown too far out of whack.”
