A historic rivalry that has been building for some time was on full display at Mount Saint Charles’ rink, with the Bishop Hendricken Hawks taking on the Mount Saint Charles Mounties. The game itself was one-sided, with Hendricken blanking the Mounties 6-0. While the Mounties were struggling, everything seemed to be clicking for the Hawks.
Hendricken is on a roll so far this season, starting off 2-0, with their two wins being consecutive. The Hawks came into Adelard Arena the day after beating Barrington 5-2 in Barrington. Hendricken Head Coach Michael Soscia spoke on the process of a quick turnaround for the team, as well as focusing their sights on Mount.
“When you play Mount, you get yourself ready. It’s a longtime rivalry, some of the guys don’t understand the process yet, but they have been watching through the years, it’s [a quick turnaround] is par for the course when you’re playing high school hockey,” said Soscia.
On the other hand, Mount was trying to right the ship, coming off an 8-1 loss to St. John’s. Mount Head Coach Matthew Merten commented on how it would be important for the Mounties to get a quick turnaround as well, with them last playing earlier in the week.
“I think a quick turnaround is better, you get right back at it, a lot of correctable mistakes. What we are is a young team, we’ve got a lot of talent, we have three returning lettermen that played significant minutes. We’ve talked through a lot of things, we went through the [last] game, broke it down, and they have a good understanding of what we need to correct,” said Merten.
Unfortunately for Mount, a lot looked the same for them as they had trouble getting the puck in the net and keeping the puck out of their own net. The Hawks started off fast and furious on offense, with junior William Cavanagh scoring the first goal of the game assisted by freshman Blake Grislis four minutes into the contest. The Hawks would go on to score three more goals in the first period.
The next goal scored for Hendricken was off the stick of junior Christopher Hughes, off a faceoff less than three minutes after the first goal was scored. Fellow junior Andrew Smith would then get his turn, scoring his second goal of the season on a wrap around, with help from Cavanagh and sophomore Jockamo Caliri. Right before the conclusion of the first period, Caliri and Hughes would assist junior Jack LaRose from a rugby-style scrum right in front of the net. LaRose would then get his second goal of the game midway through the second period off a rebound from freshman Mason Crain.
Sophomore goaltender Colin Murray and the Hendricken defense acted as a brick wall for the entire game, holding the Mounties scoreless and killing seven powerplays. Juniors Devin Exter, and Haiden Corrente along with senior Aiden Pennakini proved to be instrumental at times with the penalty kill, clearing the puck and being physical. Mount’s usual scoring threats consisting of Colden Lawrence, Kyle Smolan, and Antonio Lombari were held in check, although they did take their shots when they had their chances.
Senior Nicholas Regine would slam the door shut and lock it for the Hawks, scoring the sixth and final goal with help from Cavanagh and Corrente in the third period. Hendricken would finish the game with a total of 31 shots on goal while Mount would record 22. Besides the penalties, the Hawks seemed to play nearly flawless hockey in all phases of the game, and it was by no mistake, with Head Coach Soscia emphasizing pregame that the key to victory would be clean hockey.
“The team who makes the least amount of mistakes [will win] it’s going to be an emotional game. Whenever we play each other it’s a battle, so the team with the least amount of mistakes and whoever plays the most simple game will come out on top,” said Soscia.
These two teams will faceoff again later in the season in early February, and Mount will get their chance at redemption. For now, Mount will look to break their two-game losing streak against Burrillville next Wednesday and Hendricken will look to keep their winning streak going, with them also facing Burrillville on Friday.
Make sure to check out fansonlysportz.com for your local sports updates! - WD