BRIGHTON — Catholic Memorial has scored 97 goals this season, and once scored 21 over the span of three games back in December. But against St. Mary’s on Sunday afternoon, the Knights have never worked harder to get three.
Despite the 3-0 loss at the Warrior Ice Arena, St. Mary’s Anthony Palmer (36 saves) played as good a high school game as you could ask for – just ask his head coach.
“The star of the game for us was obviously our goaltender,” St. Mary’s head coach Mark Lee said. “I think he’s one of, if not, the best goalie in the state.”
Better yet, he’s just a freshman. From his stick-save towards the tail end of the first period, to several others with the glove, the lights were never too bright for him.
“God-gifted and a hard-working kid as well,” Lee said. “I think he’s got all the tools.”
The first period was the Palmer show with the St. Mary’s faithful giving him lots of love, but the Knights scored a goal in each period to eliminate the Spartans.
“We did talk about [how] he was making a ton of saves with his glove… we talked about shooting 2 feet off the ice on his paddle side,” Catholic Memorial head coach Larry Rooney said. “The breakaway goal (2-0) was over there and the third goal was over there.”
Overall, the size and skill of the No. 2 Knights were too much to overcome. Other than some brief power play time, No. 15 St. Mary’s struggled to establish possession from start to finish.
“We just didn’t have it today, we couldn’t seem to get anything going,” Lee said. “Credit to Catholic Memorial.”
Lee also pointed to how young his team was – one featuring 10 freshmen and six sophomores.
“I think part of that might have something to do with our youth,” Lee said. “A lot of young guys in that room and I think we had a little bit of stage fright… we did not have our best effort today, unfortunately.”
One highlight that didn’t go unnoticed, however, was a bone-crushing hit from St. Mary’s senior defenseman Tad Giardina in front of his own bench.
But in the end, the Sweet 16 will have to do for the Spartans. In a year that began 9-0-2, featured 57 goals compared to just 36 allowed, and saw three of its players (Palmer, Brady Bullock, Aidan Fitzpatrick) receive conference honors, Lee couldn’t have been more proud of his group.
“I’m just so proud of this young team to go out and, really, represent St. Mary’s so well,” Lee said. “I was very lucky and proud to coach them.”
“Every player is back next year other than four,” Lee said. “The future is really bright.”
Catholic Memorial’s Morgan Lennehan (Needham), Brendan MacNeil (Belmont), and RJ Donahue (Canton) were the goal-scorers. They’ll look to do some more damage against No. 7 Xaverian (TBA).
