St. Mary’s boys hockey team opened the season with a dominant 5-0 win against Shrewsbury, outshooting the Colonials 38-16 at Connery Rink in Lynn.
“We had a great first week-and-a-half of practice, and I feel like this is one of the most prepared teams we’ve ever had for Game 1,” said St. Mary’s coach Matthew Smith Sr. “We executed in all areas of the game. Our transfer goalie, Matthew Boyer, had a shutout as a junior. Assistant captain Evan Toto had himself a game with two goals and one assist.”
Toto scored the Spartans’ first goal of the season in the opening period to give St. Mary’s a 1-0 lead. Early in the second, Zachary Guelpa added an insurance goal before Toto netted his second with eight minutes remaining, pushing the lead to 3-0.
The Spartans’ offense continued to roll in the third. Kalen Huddle scored on the power play and Caleb Racki added the fifth goal. Colton Carpenter (2 assists), Aiden St. Pierre (assist), Joey Mongiello (assist), and Geo Capo (assist) contributed to the win.
Smith praised the balanced attack.
“We’ve been preaching ‘we over I’ and all the guys bought in,” he said. “They played St. Mary’s blue-collar hockey and we were very impressed with the team effort. I think that’s what we’re going to get most nights with this group. The leadership is really good. We have eight seniors, so we’re an older team. They’re a fun group to coach because they come every day working hard and it showed in our first game.”
BOYS BASKETBALL
Somerville 64
Lynn English 54
English began its season with a home-court loss to Greater Boston League foe Somerville Thursday evening. The score was 29-29 at halftime with Isaac Yankey leading the scoring department with 18 points for the Bulldogs.
Unfortunately for English, Yankey (20 points) and company couldn’t capitalize in the second half as Somerville escaped with a 10-point win.
The Bulldogs look to bounce back Tuesday when they travel to Medford for a 6 p.m. clash.
