Lynn Item

Spartan boys earn No. 2 spot in Super 8 By Matthew Roy / For The Item
The St. Mary's boys hockey team now can rightfully say it is among the aristocracy of Division 1 hockey in Massachusetts after the Spartans earned the No. 2 seed in the Division 1A tournament that begins on Monday.

"These kids have worked so hard and we're excited about it," St. Mary's coach Mark Lee said. "We know that we can compete with everybody here and this is well earned by this team."

The Spartans go into the tournament with the best record of any team at 18-1-3 and will be in a pool with No. 3 seed St. John's Prep; No. 6 Springfield Cathedral and the winner of tonight's play-in game between No. 7 Burlington and No. 10 Central Catholic.

St. Mary's opens on Sunday (TBA) with a game against the Burlington-Central winner. The Spartans play again the following Wednesday against Springfield, whom the Spartans beat 3-2 earlier this season, and close pool play on March 11 with a long-anticipated meeting with the Prep.

"To be seeded second shows the respect the committee has for us," Lee said. "We played Springfield and it was a battle and now getting to play St. John's on the big stage is even more exciting."

The other side of the bracket is just as loaded as top-seeded Malden Catholic looks to defend its championship. The Lancers will have No. 4 Hingham, a champion in its own right two years ago in the Super 8, and BC High along with either St. John's (Shrewsbury) or Needham.

All eight teams will be in action on Sunday at Merrimack College's Lawlor Arena when the tournament's pool play round kicks off. The finals are on March 18 at TD Garden.
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Analysis: the Super 8 Skinny

ESPN by Scott Barboza: WE ARE SPARTA
We touched on it a bit last year, but Saturday only underscored the fact that St. Mary's of Lynn has become an official Massachusetts hockey powerhouse (the boys' team that is).

The Spartans (18-1-3) took the No. 2 seed, to no surprise, behind Malden Catholic, on Saturday. Last year, St. Mary's made its first Super appearance with a play-in game, which they went on to lose in dramatic fashion.

Now head coach Mark Lee can rest easy until his team opens up pool play.

SUPER 8

Super 8 hockey tournament seedings

February, 25, 2012

By Scott Barboza

FRANKLIN, Mass. -- Saturday morning, the Division 1A (Super 8) hockey tournament committee met and has released the field for this year's tournament.

The teams, in order of power seeding, are listed below. We'll have analysis to follow on the blog:

1. Malden Catholic (15-1-4)
2. St. Mary's of Lynn (18-1-3)
3. St. John's Prep (13-5-2)
4. Hingham (16-4-2)
5. BC High (10-5-5)
6. Springfield Cathedral (10-6-6)
7. Burlington (14-1-6)
8. Needham (16-4-1)
9. St. John's of Shrewsbury (15-4-3)
10. Central Catholic (12-3-5)

PLAY-IN GAMES
No. 8 Needham vs. No. 9 St. John's (Shrewsbury): 5:45 p.m., Lawler Arena, Merrimack College
No. 7 Burlington vs. No. 10 Central Catholic: 8:15 p.m., Lawler

Feb 23

Home > Sports

Bobby Mullins and St. Mary's finished the regular season with a win over Weymouth at Connery Rink on Wednesday. (Item File Photo)

 

St. Mary's boys hockey routs Weymouth By Matthew Roy / For The Item LYNN — The St. Mary's boys hockey team put a bow on the best regular season in program history on Wednesday night at Connery Rink as 15 different Spartans got on the scoresheet en route to a commanding 10-2 win over Weymouth on senior night.

"It's been a dream season for us," St. Mary's coach Mark Lee said. "But it wasn't by accident. Every one of these kids has given everything they have and it shows that hard work does pay off."

The Spartans will now wait to see their fate at the Super 8 selection meeting on Saturday morning but all indications have placed St. Mary's as a possible No. 2 seed behind Malden Catholic after completing the season on a 21-game unbeaten streak and 18-1-3 overall record.

"I am so proud of all these guys," Lee said. "They couldn't have accomplished this without a total team effort."

Win No. 18 was never in doubt after a dominant first-period effort as Bobby Mullins, Connor Parent, Tommy Braswell and Nikko Markham scored to make it 4-0 Spartans in less than nine minutes.

The second period would be much of the same as St. Mary's held a 15-3 shots on net advantage over the Wildcats and increased their lead to 6-0 on tallies from Brendan Mageary and Cam O'Neill.

The onslaught continued in the third as defenseman Andrew DiMaiti scored the game's prettiest goal with an end-to-end rush with the Spartans shorthanded to make it 7-0 before the Wildcats got on the board.

Mageary answered 31 seconds later before Parent completed a hat trick with two goals in 13 seconds midway through the period. Jack Leehan capped the scoring for Weymouth with 2:38 left as the Spartans finished up with no losses since opening night versus Malden Catholic.

"Playing MC in that first game gave us a lot of confidence. We skated with them for three periods and it showed everyone in that room they could play with the best in the state," Lee said. "And they've built on that from then on."

Boston Herald blog

February 14th, 2012
Boys hockey goaltending leaders
Posted by Jim Clark at 1:25 pm

Statewide boys hockey goaltending leaders, through games of Feb. 11 (min. 7 GP). Stats are compiled from reports by teams and league representatives, with additional information from masshshockey.com:

POS.	NAME	SCHOOL	GAMES	GOALS	GAA
1	Jason Robes	Groton-Dunstable	9.66	6	0.62
2	Connor Murray	Needham	18	17	0.94
3	Jack Niemoller	Groton-Dunstable	8.33	9	1.08
4	Connor Roddy	Medfield	14.7	17	1.16
5	Bailey MacBurnie	St. Mary’s	17.8	24	1.34

ESPNBoston.com's boys hockey Top 25

Updated: February 13, 2012, 6:05 PM ET

ESPNBoston.com Staff

Below is our 2011 top 25 MIAA hockey poll, as selected by our panel of staff writers and correspondents. (Updated 2/13)

Team Name	Last year's record	Last year's ranking	Notes
1. Malden Catholic	(12-1-3)	1	We really thought the Lancers might be in for a fight against Hingham. Well, we were wrong. Still rolling strong.
2. St. Mary's of Lynn	(16-1-2)	2	The Spartans' 3-2 win over No. 6 Cathedral should cease any conversations as to which team should get the second spot at the Super 8 table.
3. St. John's Prep	(11-5-1)	3	We're keeping the Eagles here, but they're not playing their best after a 2-2 tie with St. John's of Shrewsbury and a last-second victory over Catholic Memorial.
4. Hingham	(13-3-1)	4	The streak is over. Still, a 13-game unbeaten streak through the middle of the season is nothing to sneeze at. Given the schedule the Harbormen play, in addition to the fact we thought they were going to be in rebuilding mode this season, the feat is that much more impressive.
5. Central Catholic	(10-2-4)	7	Raiders missed a big opportunity to gain a higher foothold on the DCL/MVC race, splitting a 3-3 tie with Billerica. An equally large matchup looms on Saturday against Andover.
6. Springfield Cathedral	(8-5-5)	8	Don't want to be presumptuous, but we're going to say that the Panthers' victory over BC High on Thursday, repaying an earlier loss to the Eagles, should be the final piece on a winning Super 8 resume.
7. BC High	(9-4-3)	5	The Eagles have yet another matchup with Super 8 implications on Saturday against Hingham, kicking off the Cape Cod Classic.
8. Catholic Memorial	(6-7-2)	6	Knights have played well enough to win many of their games in recent weeks, but rash of recent ties and near misses illustrates the need to play a full 45-minute game. Six points in four games: Can it be done?

Feb 15

St. Mary's boys hockey solves Williams By Steve Krause / The Daily Item LYNN — After one period Wednesday night, St. Mary's had peppered Archbishop Williams goalie Joe Vinay with 11 shots while the Spartans' Bailey MacBurnie faced only three.

But the only puck that went past either goalie came on a power play, with Williams captain Sean LeBlanc doing the honors.

"But," said Spartan coach Mark Lee, "just as (we've) been doing all year, we didn't panic."

St. Mary's scored three unanswered goals in the second period and ended up winning, 4-2, to inch the Spartans closer to pretty much clinching a spot in the Super 8 tournament next month.

"I continue to be proud of these guys," said Lee. "We played a great second period, and fought off a four-minute minor to one of our guys, and that gave us a lot of momentum. It really gave us a spark."

The penalty, on Cam O'Neill, came after Nikko Markham had tied the game at 1-1 5:06 into the second on the power play. St. Mary's patiently rotated the puck until it got to Markham at the left point, and he blasted one home for the goal.

The Spartans killed off the penalty, and shortly after it expired, Tommy Braswell scored right off a faceoff after Williams was whistled for a penalty. That made the score 2-1.

At 11:14 of the period, Brendan Mageary's goal made it 3-1. Mageary collected a nifty drop pass from Jordan Manthorne, and crept up the left side until he let loose on Vinay.

Things got a little bit dicey in the third period when LeBlanc scored again for Williams after just 1:27 had ticked off the clock, thanks to another Spartan penalty. But Bobby Mullins got that back at 8:57 on a beautiful solo effort. Mullins skated from center ice into the Williams zone, and went around a couple of defenders until he took a bad-angle shot off Vinay's pads and into the net.

St. Mary's, 17-1-2, has a tough windup to the regular season. Saturday, the Spartans play Division 1 champion Marshfield, and they close the season out Wednesday against Weymouth.

Feb 11

Hockey: Spartans squeeze past Springfield Cathedral, 3-2 By Kevin Doyle / For The Item St. Mary's likely squelched any lingering doubt regarding whether it merits Div. 1A tournament status later this month as it turned back Springfield Cathedral Saturday night at Connery Rink, 3-2.

Brendan Mageary's second goal of the game broke a 2-all tie with 2:23 to play as the Spartans (16-1-2) remained unbeaten in 18 games since a season-opening loss to Malden Catholic. It was a damaging loss for Cathedral (8-5-5) as it attempts to build its 1A resume down the stretch.

"This was as good of a game and team effort as we have played all year. From the goaltending to the defensemen to the forwards, every player gave their best effort and it showed," said coach Mark Lee.

The visitors broke a scoreless tie on Frank Crinella's unassisted strike at 12:23 of the second period, but Jarrod Fitzpatrick drew the Spartans even with just three seconds left in the stanza, converting Connor Parent's set-up. Mageary gave St. Mary's its first lead at 3:30 of the final period but the Panthers pulled even on Cullin Geary's goal with 7:51 to play. St. Mary's sophomore goalie Bailey MacBurnie continued to shine with 17 saves and Jordan Manthorne had two assists

Feb 8

Andrew Markham and the St. Mary's boys beat AC on Wednesday. (Item File Photo)

 

Back-to-back CCL championships for St. Mary's boys hockey By Matthew Roy / For The Item LYNN — Since losing 5-1 to Malden Catholic in its season opener, the St. Mary's boys hockey team has been on a tear and on Wednesday at Connery Rink, the Spartans paid off that play with a title.

Tim Aylward had two goals and an assist while Cam O'Neill had a goal and an assist as the Spartans defeated Arlington Catholic, 3-1, to claim their second consecutive Catholic Central League/Large title.

"I am so proud of this team," St. Mary's coach Mark Lee said after his team made it 17 straight games without a loss. "We struggled at times (Wednesday) and didn't have our 'A' game but as they've done all year, they never stopped working and deserve this championship."

Sophomore goalie Bailey MacBurnie came up with one of his best performances of the season, turning aside 23 of 24 shots he faced, including a save on a second-period breakaway after the Spartans (15-1-2, 8-0-1) had just taken the lead.

"Bailey has played so well for us all season," Lee said. "And you can't win at this level without a goaltender like him."

The Spartans got a challenge from a young and talented AC (8-5-3, 5-2-1) team that generated several quality scoring chances but couldn't cash them in.

"I thought that we really came to play (Wednesday)," Cougars coach Dan Shine said. "We had some chances and didn't finish them off. We're such a young team that sometimes you don't finish like you want to."

The Spartans looked early on like they were ready to blow AC right off the ice as it took a little under four minutes for St. Mary's to grab the lead when Aylward one-timed home an O'Neill pass on the power play.

AC, though, steadied itself and began to take the play to the Spartans as the period wore on. MacBurnie came up with a couple of big saves on Brendon O'Connell power play bids late in the period to keep it 1-0 after one.

Early in the second, the Spartans were tagged for two penalties on one shift and the Cougars made them pay almost immediately as freshman Michael Snow fired home O'Connell's pass from the right post and the game was tied less than three minutes in.

"When you play for a championship, you're going to see what you're made of," Lee said. "And when they scored, I didn't see much change on the bench."

Special teams would come to the forefront again when the Cougars put St. Mary's on the power play midway through the game and set the stage for a highlight reel goal.

O'Neill took an Aylward pass in full stride at the Spartan line and proceeded to skate through three defenders before ripping a shot past Shawn Ray for a 2-1 lead.

"The kids didn't panic when they tied it and they stayed the course nicely," Lee said.

In front for the second time on the night, St. Mary's set about protecting its lead with a swarming defense in front of MacBurnie. And the strategy worked as the Cougars would manage only five shots over the final 15 minutes.

Aylward then delivered the knockout punch with 4:16 left when Andrew Markham's shot bounced off an AC stick and found the tape of the junior for his 10th goal of the year.

"St. Mary's has had a tremendous season," Shine said. "They are very well coached and are going to be a force for a while."

Feb rankings

Boys hockey “Super Eight” rankings

DIVISION 1

1. MALDEN CATHOLIC (8-1-2) – Guess we know why Jerry York was spotted at Wednesday night’s game against BC High.

2. ST. MARY’S (11-1-2) – Not going to bump the Spartans down because of a road tie in the league, especially since they still have that big December win against …

3. HINGHAM (11-2-0) – But the Harbormen’s nine-game win streak has them poised to move even higher if either Nos. 1 or 2 slip up. A key matchup looms Saturday at Springfield Cathedral.

4. ST. JOHN’S PREP (9-4-0) – Keep hearing about some “big game” coming up this week. They must be talking about the Eagles’ trip to Malden on Tuesday.

5. BC HIGH (7-3-2) – As far as 1-1-1 weeks go, that was a pretty good one for the boys from Morrissey Blvd.

6. BURLINGTON (9-1-2) – Normally we wouldn’t be looking at a matchup for the Red Devils at Melrose (Saturday), but there is that nasty “1” in the loss column.

The wild cards

7. Needham (11-2-0); 8. Springfield Cathedral (7-3-3); 9. Central Catholic (7-2-3); 10. Westford Academy (8-2-2).

Raffle winners

Feb-1  Paul Butler   $25

Feb-2  Mary DiMaiti $25

Feb-3  Denise Vincerelli  $25

Feb-4  Stacy Butler  $100

 Post

Feb-5  Ken Frankel   $100

Feb-6  Marke O'Toole Sr $25

Feb-7  Steve Poliskey  $25

Feb-8  Bill Borders  $25

Feb-9  Steve Poliskey  $25

Feb-10 Alice Mercer $25

Feb-11 Jim Baker  $100

Post

Feb-12 Brenda Butler $100

Feb-13 Marie Gianci  $25

Feb-14 Karen Foley  $200

Feb-15 Nicole Gatit  $25

Feb-16 Pat Scanlan  $25

Feb-17 Tony Cappola $25 

Feb-18 Karen Scalli  $100

Post

Feb-19 Kris O'Neill  $100

Feb-20 Steve Poliskey $25

Feb-21 Stacey Butler  $25

Feb-22 Jeanne Cardosa $25

Feb-23 Tom Ferrarine  $25

Feb-24 Kris O'Neill $25

Feb-25 Karen Scalli $100

Post

Feb-26 Mary Freeze $100

Feb-27 Jeff MacBurnie $25

Feb-28 Denise Vincerelli $25

Feb-29 Lydia Young $25

ESPN article

Recap: No. 4 St. Mary's 4, No. 20 Austin Prep 1

February, 2, 2012

By Matt Noonan

LYNN, Mass. -- After its one-goal lead was erased early in the second period, No. 4 St. Mary’s of Lynn regrouped and registered three goals during the final 25 minutes to secure a season sweep against No. 20 Austin Prep, as well as a 4-1 win on Wednesday at the Connery Memorial Rink.

The Spartans have now won two of their last three contests, and haven't lost a regular season match since losing to Malden Catholic in December in the first game of the season.

"We needed to win tonight to keep breathing room for the league, and Austin Prep is a very talented, tough team to play," St. Mary's head coach Mark Lee said.

The Spartans (13-1-2, 6-0-1 Catholic Central) earned their first lead of the contest with 52-seconds remaining in the opening period, as juniors Cameron Grenham and Bobby Mullins, (1 G, 1 A) connected with sophomore Jordan Manthorne, which gave St. Mary’s an one-goal advantage prior to the first intermission.

Austin Prep (6-5-3, 5-3-1) answered roughly two minutes into the middle frame when freshman Cam Russo notched the Cougars' only strike of the evening, after he wrapped around sophomore Bailey MacBurnie’s (15 saves) cage for the score.

However, the Cougars goal didn’t exactly provide the necessary spark for their offense, as St. Mary’s responded two minutes later with a goal from Mullins, who rushed the net and slapped the puck past freshman goaltender Elijah Harris (31 saves).

“Once you tie a game up, you want to sustain at least five-six minutes with no goals scored, so you can try to build up some momentum instead of giving them one right back again,” Austin Prep head coach Louis Finocchiaro said.

“I just took a shot on net, and it went in,” said Mullins, who now has seven goals on the season. “I was telling the guys, ‘just get shots on him, they’ll start to go in’.”

The Spartans followed Mullins instructions during the final period and constantly fired shots at Harris’s net before seniors Tim Aylward and Bryan Wilkins found the back of the cage for the teams third and fourth goals.

“I give my guys credit for weathering the storm, and finishing so strong,” said Lee. “We’ve been finding ourselves the last couple of games down, and there’s no panic on the bench, it’s all positive between the teammates. They’re patting each other on the back, keeping it going, and strong.”

Austin Prep finished the final frame with just three shots on net, and no goals.

“We hung in there, we competed, [and] played hard,” Finocchiaro said. “I thought our effort was good tonight.”

ONE-FOR-ALL MENTATLITY
Against the Cougars, Bobby Mullins registered a goal and an assist to give him 23 points on the season, but that particular statistic didn’t get in the way of the Spartans celebrating their 13th victory as a team.

“I’m not really looking at the 23 points,” said a humbled Mullins. “The team’s working well together, we’re having a good time, we’re like a family, [and] we’re all like a ‘band of brothers,’ like we say [because] we’re just having fun out there.”

Mullins has now tallied seven goals, and 16 assists through 16 games, but again, he’s not focused on his individual stat line, yet instead, his team.

“Coach is teaching us to play as a team. He said it a lot this season [that] it’s not all about the points,” he said. “We just want to win. We’ve got a lot of heart in the locker room. The seniors are all stepping up their game. We’ve got new guys all pitching in, everybody’s for the team, everybody’s just out there scoring, having fun, and we all just want to win.”

Besides Mullins, junior Cam O’Neill earned his 15th point of the season when he tallied an assist on Wilkins goal. Although, similar to Mullins, O’Neill didn’t steal the spotlight from his team’s gritty effort.

“We’re pretty happy about the attitude, and like I said, it hasn’t been perfect lately, [but] they’ve stayed with it and stayed with the game plan,” Lee said.

A referee drops the puck between Austin Prep's Ryan Quinn (20) and St. Mary's Bobby Mullins (16) during their game at Connery Rink in Lynn on Wednesday. Mullins had a goal and two assists for St. Mary's. (Item Photo / Angela Owens)

Spartans topple Cougars, take back first

Spartans topple Cougars, take back first in CCL By Matthew Roy / For The Item LYNN — It was probably as fine a third period as the St. Mary's hockey team has put together in a long time and it couldn't have come at a more opportune moment for the Spartans on Wednesday at Connery Rink.

Playing for first place in the CCL Large, the Spartans uncorked a 19-shot barrage on Austin Prep in the third period, as Tim Aylward and Bryan Wilkins scored to ensure a 4-1 Spartans win. St. Mary's now controls its own destiny for a second straight league title.

Click here for a photo gallery.

"That really was a solid third period," St. Mary's coach Mark Lee said. "We needed to come out of here with a win (Wednesday) and the kids answered the call in the third."

The Cougars (6-5-3, 5-3-1 CCL) were right there with the hottest team in Division 1 hockey for most of the game, but had no answer when the Spartans (13-1-2, 6-0-1) turned up the wick in the third.

"I thought that we played good for the most part," Austin coach Lou Finocchiaro said. "But we can't put things together for 45 minutes. We've played a good 40 minutes most of the season."

The Spartans easily could have blown Austin right out of the rink on Wednesday if not for the play of freshman goaltender Elijah Harris, who stood tall between the pipes in the face of the constant pressure.

St. Mary's controlled much of the play in the first period but neither team could score until the final minute when Jordan Manthorne one-timed home Bobby Mullins' pass from behind the goal for a 1-0 lead.

"That was a huge goal by Jordan," Lee said. "We had played a pretty good period there and it was nice to get that one late."

The Cougars picked up their game early in the second and got the equalizer when Cam Russo banked a shot off Bailey MacBurnie's stick at 2:11.

True to its nature this season, St. Mary's shrugged off the Cougars goal and came back with one of its own two and a half minutes later as Chris Butler made a perfect pass to Mullins in the slot for the go-ahead marker.

"It's been that way for us all season," Lee said of his team's depth. "It's not been just one player carrying the load."

Both teams had chances as the period wound down but MacBurnie and Harris kept it 2-1 through two.

The third period would be a different story as the Cougars were hemmed in their own zone for long stretches.

Harris did a superhuman job of keeping it a one-goal game but the law of averages finally bit the Cougars with 4:59 left when Aylward went to the goal and poked a rebound between Harris' legs for a 3-1 lead.

Wilkins capped the domination 1:45 later when his flutterball got past a startled Harris