Boston, MA: In the annual St. Sebastian’s vs Catholic Memorial Mutch Cup held every year, St. Seb’s offense was too much for CM to handle. The first period started out fast paced and was even through the first 10 minutes. Then the ice started to shift in Seb’s favor. St. Sebastian’s finally broke through at the 4:46 mark when sophomore forward Cam Collins made a spectacular one-handed pass to sophomore Brendan Dumas, who was able to one-time the puck over the right shoulder of CM goaltender Liam Kilgallen. Seb’s struck again two minutes later when Jayden Struble walked the zone and was able to make a beautiful backhanded pass through the slot to freshman forward Jack Hughes, who corralled the puck and rifled it top shelf to make it 2-0. The rest of the first period was played 4-on-4 and Kilgallen was tested often but he was up to the task and able to keep Seb’s at 2 goals.
The second period started out all CM. They were able to capitalize on a power play at the 14:11 mark. Junior defenseman Kevin McCarthy from CM took a feed from Tommy Rooney and walked the line before snapping a wrist shot through to cut the lead to 1. CM was then able to convert on another power play minutes later when senior forward Chris Rooney made a big hit on the forecheck before sliding a pass out front to Will MacNeil who was able to tip it past Seb’s goaltender Jack Moffat. Seb’s finally started to take control back after a flurry of chances and ringing a few posts. With just under three minutes to play, freshman Jack Hughes received a pass from Liam Gorman in the slot was able to wire it past the goaltender. Then under 40 seconds later Liam Devlin made a nifty move around a CM defender and was able to out-wait Kilgallen to bring the second period to a close at 4-2 St. Sebastian’s.
The story of the third period was special teams as both teams had their time on the power play. Seb’s came out flying and peppered CM with chances. Seb’s took a slashing penalty at 11:47 but after a great effort from Tommy Lyons he was able to draw a tripping penalty to make it a 4-on-4. Seb’s struck for the fifth time at the 8:25 mark after Struble made a leaping catch to keep the puck in the zone, he then beat two defenders and snapped a pass across to James Davenport who finished it off. The rest of the period was played on the power play as St. Sebastian’s took a 5-minute major high sticking penalty and then a tripping penalty two minutes later to make it a CM 5 on 3. CM then pulled their goalie to make it a 6 on 3 but were unable to capitalize. Seb’s Liam Gorman iced the game with a backhander from the redline on an empty net to seal the win.
Three Stars
- Jack Hughes (Seb’s)
- Jayden Struble (Seb’s)
- Tommy Lyons (Seb’s)
NZ Notes: For St. Sebastian’s we really liked Tommy Lyons’ game. Although he only showed up on the score sheet with one assist, he was an impact player. He controlled the puck well and didn’t try to force any plays. He is a great skater that can protect the puck with his body. He went to the net hard and was able to draw penalties by getting under the CM defenders’ skin. We also liked Jayden Struble’s game tonight. He made a few athletic plays that really caught our attention. He is a highly skilled defenseman but needs to be a little more disciplined. Additional standouts for Seb’s included freshman Jack Hughes and Timmy Delay. Hughes showed us that he could really rip the puck. He had two goals that were on wrist shots that beat the goalie clean. He is a good skater that gets up and down the ice with ease. Although he is only a freshman he made all his plays with confidence. Delay also is a great skater that likes to go north and south. He has great hands and was able to beat defenders one-on-one on a few different occasions. For Catholic Memorial we liked Chris Rooney’s game tonight. He was hard-nosed and physical causing a lot of trouble for the Seb’s defenders. He was on both the power play and penalty kill and ate up a lot of minutes. We also liked junior defenseman Kevin McCarthy. He is a big body with an active stick. He gets around the ice well for a bigger player and gets all his shots through from the point. He quarterbacks the power play and had a nice goal on a quick release.