BRIGHTON — A 12 months after taking house the vaunted Catholic Conference title, the unbeaten Catholic Memorial boys hockey staff kicked off its convention play Wednesday night time with a agency exhibiting of simply how robust its bid for a repeat crown will probably be.
Behind a gritty defensive effort inside a dominant recreation throughout all three zones of the ice, the No. 4 Knights (6-0) held off each harmful look No. 7 Xaverian (4-2) may generate en path to a 4-0 shutout win at Warrior Ice Arena.
CM scored in all three intervals as a part of a 42-22 shot benefit, padding the little margin that goalie Owen Watson (22 saves) wanted to safe the win reverse a sensational effort from Hawks netminder Cole Pouliot-Porter (38 saves).
Xaverian created loads of exercise round him all night time, however the Knights’ onerous hits and fast scrambles to free pucks within the soiled space staved off any hopes for a comeback.
“The Catholic Conference is the most difficult league in the state and we knew this would be a tough game, I don’t think that was a 4-0 game,” stated Catholic Memorial coach Larry Rooney. “Our guys battled hard in our own zone defensively, that’s where it all starts for us. … We feel good, we’re starting to believe in ourselves. We believed that we could play with any team in the state, but it’s not going to be easy.”
Neither staff may get a lot going inside the first six minutes of play as power surged from each teams in a premier matchup. But as soon as the Knights drew an influence play, the floodgates opened.
Pouliot-Porter stopped the primary 11 pictures the Knights peppered at him over the following six minutes, as CM’s forecheck saved loads of stress within the offensive zone. The eleventh shot bounced proper again to a charging Mike Birch, nonetheless, and he flipped his personal rebound in for the 1-0 lead.
“It’s just a Catholic Conference matchup,” Birch stated. “Come to play, we play hard and got it done tonight. … Xaverian-CM is always a great matchup.”
The second interval noticed Xaverian come alive, producing essentially the most pictures (9) it might get in any interval to attempt to claw again. But it appeared that essentially the most harmful alternatives it generated had been those it couldn’t get a clear shot on.
Big hits to clear the soiled space and bodily stick work cleared the bevy of free pucks the Hawks generated across the crease all through the body. Defenders Finn Burke, Austin Kelly, and Anthony Pellitteri stood out, and Watson even by some means didn’t enable a puck behind him – whereas laying down – to cross the road for a rating at one level.
Tyler Hamilton and Connor Fryberger every transformed objectives to present the Knights a 3-0 lead within the second interval regardless of two journeys to the penalty field. Joe Marchi’s tip-in with 6:17 left to play was the ultimate dagger.
“We killed penalties well tonight, we defended well in our own zone tonight,” Rooney stated. “A lot of what was created by (Xaverian) tonight we kind of gave to them. We made some mistakes … but we did a good job of clearing second opportunities and limiting those opportunities for them.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com