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Mounties draw first blood |
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Tuesday, 25 March 2008 |
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By MICHAEL PARENTE Sports writer PROVIDENCE – Getting denied a line change never worked as well for Mount as it did on Monday night.
Forced to stick with their second line after the referees waved off a last-minute substitution in the third period, the Mounties took the lead for good on the ensuing face-off when Tim Coffey banged home a rebound in front of the net, lifting the No. 1 seed in Division I to a 4-2 victory over Bishop Hendricken in the opener of the best-of-three boys’ hockey finals at Schneider Arena.
Mount is now one win away from its first state title in four years and will go for the sweep Tuesday night at 7:30 in Game 2.
“The puck bounced right on my stick,” said Coffey, a second-line forward who gathered the rebound on a hard slap shot by Josh Fattore to score the game-winning goal. “All I had to do was put it in the ocean.”
Mount coach Dave Belisle tried to put his top line back in the game before the face-off in Hendricken’s zone, but the referees denied his request, prompting a brief argument from the bench. Kyle Beauchamp won the subsequent face-off and got the puck to Fattore, who fired a slap shot from the blue line that deflected off freshman goaltender Shane Benjamin’s stick. The rebound slid out to the point, where Coffey flew in untouched and flipped the loose puck past Benjamin to give Mount a 3-2 lead with 4:19 remaining.
“I’m glad I didn’t,” Belisle said with a smile when asked about trying to make a last-minute line change before Coffey’s goal. “The next thing you know, here he is sitting there with nobody on him and he buried it quickly. That’s what you’ve got to do when you’ve got an opportunity.”
The second-seeded Hawks took the lead on a goal by Tom Powers in the first period, but captain John Guay scored in the second to tie the game, and then put the finishing touches on the victory with another goal in the closing minutes. Guay also finished with an assist despite picking up three penalties in the second period, which put him on the brink of an ejection and a Game 2 suspension.
“After he got his third penalty, I thought he played his best,” Belisle said. “He played more in control. He played smarter. He played his game. He got a big goal – that first goal – because we were not playing well at that point, and that turned our game around.”
Hendricken had a chance to tie the game moments after Coffey scored, but goaltender Jason SanAntonio made a brilliant save by guarding the post to cut off a shot by Noel Acciari, who took the feed from Peter Taylor on the breakaway.
“What a great save,” Belisle said. “They come back right after and do a two-stacker on a great feed. I was screened by the boy who made the pass, and when I saw Acciari backdoor, I said, ‘It’s in,’ but (SanAntonio) stacked him on a beautiful save. That was the game right there.”
SanAntonio finished with 32 saves and helped shut down Hendricken’s top line of Stephen Buco, Acciari and Taylor, which finished scoreless after combining for 148 points in the regular season.
“We had great chances,” Hendricken coach Jim Creamer said. “We certainly had enough chances to win, but give them credit – they made the plays and we didn’t.”
Guay evened the score in the second period on a power play when he collected a loose puck in the slot and made a quick move from left to right to catch Hendricken’s goaltender off guard. Beauchamp tried to break free on the initial shot, but got leveled by Alex Cordeiro in front of the net. Guay cleaned up the mess and beat Benjamin on a tremendous individual effort as he fell to the ice with 8:12 left in the period.
Jim Fuoroli gave the Mounties the lead at the 10:29 mark when he scored on a great pass from Guay in front of the net, but Guay got whistled for hooking less than a minute later and the Hawks took advantage on Nicholas Mattiello’s power-play goal to tie the game with 2:29 to go.
After Coffey put Mount back in front in the third, Guay iced the game with another goal on a strong individual effort, this team out-skating defenseman Ed Pekalski along the boards on a power play and beating Benjamin 1-on-1 to make it 4-2 with 2:55 remaining.
“We told them, ‘Shoot – you’re not going to score unless you shoot,’” Belisle said. “Sure enough, we created a rebound and we got a goal.”
“He’s a freshman goalie, and if we get in his head, we should be able to put some pucks in the net,” added Coffey.
The Mounties have a chance to put the series away on Tuesday night, but are cautiously optimistic given what happened last year. Mount won the opener in that series as well, and led by three goals at the end of the first period in Game 2 before the Hawks struck back. Hendricken rallied to win the second game and then shut out Mount in the series’ finale for its second consecutive state title.
“We haven’t won it in four years,” Coffey said. “We won the first game last year and couldn’t finish it, so we’re going to do it this year.”
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Hendricken 1 1 0–2
Mount 0 2 2–4
First period – H, Thomas Powers (Nicholas Mattiello) PP 8:42. Penalties – Hendricken, 1-2:00; Mount, 2-4:00.
Second period – M, John Guay (Kyle Beauchamp, Josh Fattore) PP 6:48; M, Jim Fuoroli (Guay) 10:29; H, Mattiello (Powers) PP 12:31. Penalties – Hendricken, 2-4:00; Mount, 4-8:00.
Third period – M, Tim Coffey (Fattore, Guay) 10:41; M, Guay (Fattore) PP 12:05. Penalties – Hendricken, 1-2:00.
Saves – M, Jason SanAntonio 32; H, Shane Benjamin 23.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 29 March 2008 )
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