Cam Kennedy (23) of St. Mary's and Mike Vecchione (8) of Malden Catholic fight for the puck in the second period. (Item Photo / Alan Webster)
St. Mary's boys hockey falls just short against MC
LYNN - There wasn't a seat to be had at Connery Rink on Monday night when St. Mary's hosted No. 1 ranked Malden Catholic in a game that could be a preview of a possible Super Eight matchup in a couple weeks' time.And if what happened on Monday was any indication, North Shore hockey fans are going to be in for some great entertainment come March.
For 45 minutes, both teams turned the ice at Connery into their own personal track and gave the standing room only crowd plenty to remember. In the end it was the Lancers who came out with a 3-2 win in a game that went right to the final second.
Click here for a photo gallery.
For the Spartans, it was a drastically different outcome than back in December when MC had blasted them, 8-0, in the Saugus Christmas Tournament. And for coach Mark Lee, Monday's game left him plenty to be proud of.
"Every kid on this team sacrificed their bodies and gave us everything they had on every shift," Lee said. "They did a tremendous job controlling a great team."
"We ran into a very hot goalie (Monday)," Malden Catholic coach Chris Serino said. "We missed too many good chances but St. Mary's also played very well so give them a lot of credit."
It was a breakneck pace from the outset as the two teams didn't waste a lot of time in getting reacquainted with each other. It was the Spartans (12-3-3) who would get the game's first power play chance when Garrett White was called for tripping at the 4:02 mark.
It didn't take long for St. Mary's to get its crowd into the game as Bucky Surette was stood up at the MC line but made a slick pass to Bobby Mullins for a 2-on-1 that Brendan Mageary finished off over Pat Young's blocker for a 1-0 lead at 4:44.
The Lancers (12-2-2) began to crank the pressure up around Hesse and late in the first it paid off as Brendan Collier and Saugus' Mike Vecchione finished off a nifty give-and-go with Collier's 21st goal of the season and a 1-1 tie after a period.
"We had a game plan going in and it was great to see that for the most part we stuck to the defensive scheme that we wanted to play," Lee said.
Early in the second, Spartan defenseman Cam Kennedy was called for a trip and the Lancers would get the first of what turned out to be five power play chances in the middle period.
St. Mary's dodged bullets on the first two man advantages thanks to Hesse and a couple of goalposts but the third time was the charm for MC as Ryan Fitzgerald fired a laser over Hesse's shoulder from the right circle midway through the second for a 2-1 Lancer lead.
The Spartans nearly had that goal back moments later but Young made his best stop of the game when he robbed Connor Parent's bid on a 2-on-1 with Tom Braswell. Just over two minutes later, the Lancers upped the lead to 3-1 when Garrett Young worked his way past three defenders and lifted a shot over Hesse at 10:38.
Two minutes later, the lead was cut back to a goal as Surette picked the pocket of an MC defenseman at the Spartan blue line and fought off a hook to score on a breakaway to make it 3-2 heading to the third.
"(St. Mary's) didn't get a lot of shots but they were able to take advantage of them," Serino said.
The final 15 minutes served as a stage for Hesse to show why he's regarded as one of the top goalies in the state. The Lancers had an 11-3 shots advantage over the final period, but the senior came up with brilliant save after brilliant save.
"Any great team starts with a great goalie and we're fortunate to have one of the best," Lee said. "And he showed it (Monday) with how he played."
The Spartans would go for broke in the final minute, calling timeout with 42 seconds left to get an extra attacker on. But the Lancers thwarted St. Mary's final push.
