CANTON — Despite a frightening begin to its hockey marketing campaign, Catholic Memorial appears to be peaking at exactly the best time. The Knights have had loads of contributions, however one rising star has actually stood out throughout their latest stretch.
Sophomore Nick D’Olympio continued his breakout season, registering a hat trick as Catholic Memorial recorded one in all its most vital wins with an exhilarating 4-3 victory over Archbishop Williams on the Canton Sportsplex.
“We knew it was going to be tough,” stated Catholic Memorial coach Larry Rooney. “This is a smaller rink, this is their home barn. Three o’clock game, our rhythm was off a little bit. To come in here and get that win is a big deal for us.”
The sport was anticipated to be a conflict, with Archbishop Williams (13-3-0) being seeded second within the MIAA’s newest Div. 1 boys hockey scores. Meanwhile, Catholic Memorial (10-5-3) entered because the No. 5 staff, trying to proceed its newest tear towards a premier foe. The Knights drew first blood with 11:34 to play within the opening interval, as Cameron Reed fed a go to D’Olympio in entrance of the Bishops’ internet. The sophomore ripped a shot into the twine, as CM seized a 1-0 lead.
However, Archbishop Williams answered. Just 1:37 later, a shot by junior Finn Kelly skipped excessive within the air, and fell gracefully into the online amid visitors. In a sudden twist, the Bishops had evened the rating at 1-all.
With about eight minutes to go within the second interval, D’Olympio buried his second purpose to offer the Knights a 2-1 benefit.
“We knew how they play,” stated D’Olympio. “We know what they do well, what they do wrong. We just had to counter that. They’re an offensive team. We’re both, so we just had to make sure we were strong on both sides of the ice.”
Archbishop Williams discovered an equalizer off the stick of Patrick Hampton to conclude the second, because the junior tallied a purpose to even the rating at 2-2.
After drawing a slashing penalty, Catholic Memorial launched into an influence play with 15:56 remaining. With one second left on the person benefit, junior Luke Long slid a shot dwelling, placing the Knights forward, 3-2. They would tack on yet another energy play purpose with 4:55 left, as D’Olympio corralled a go from Connor Fryberger, then fired a laser into the cage to finish the hat trick, successfully sealing the win.
Cameron Reed tallied three assists for CM. Facing a staff averaging 5.3 objectives per sport, junior goaltender Ryan Littlefield stood on his head to choose up the win for the Knights.
Senior defenseman TJ Cooper added a purpose for Archbishop Williams, whereas senior left winger Matthew Deminico completed with two assists.
Catholic Memorial is now 4-0-1 over its final 5 contests, with wins over noteworthy opponents reminiscent of BC High, Malden Catholic and St. John’s Prep.
With three video games left within the common season, the Knights might be poised to unleash some injury with the Div. 1 playoffs looming.
“I think we have a very tight group year in and year out,” Littlefield stated. “The coaches try to instill a lot of character into us, and that really helps us in the tough times of the season. So we’re always able to bounce back from hard times. I think that’s going to help us in the long run.”
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