Boston, MA – The schedule makers certainly had scouts in mind when getting this season started with some marquee games, This one was circled on our calendars from the moment we began plugging games into our site. This tilt featured the traveling Belmont Marauders taking on the home squad, the BC High Eagles from the campus of UMass Boston at Barry Rink. Both teams come into this season with veteran leadership and plenty of depth, we were most intrigued to see how each team would fair in their respective openers.
In the first period, both teams were amped up from the puck drop and that led to some jittery play. As a result, Belmont was whistled for a five minute major for contact to the head very early in the frame, but the Marauders were able to kill the balance of the five minute infraction, despite plenty of end-to-end action throughout. The physical play punctuated lots of wide open skating lanes and plenty of transition rushes throughout. Belmont had a couple of nice chances created off turnovers at the blue line, but BC High netminder Ray Carabin turned them all away. After 17 minutes (note: not 15) it was 0-0 on the scoreboard.
In the middle frame, the Eagles started the period on the power play but their man advantage was interrupted by a steal at the blue line by junior Belmont forward Cam Fici. He beat the Eagle defender to the puck, and scored on the breakaway the other end 39 seconds in: 1-0 Marauders. As the period wore on, the Eagles began to carry the play more and more, generating more odd-man chances. Despite these looks, senior captain Ryan Griffin kept each shot out. Seconds before the second period wrapped up, junior Belmont forward Shay Donahue put a shot on net that generated a juicy rebound and senior captain Matt Rowan hammered it from below the dot and the puck trickled just behind Carabin, but it was scooped off the goal line deftly by Eagle defender Matt Cox. The Marauders felt confident that the puck went in the net, but regardless, the referees let the play continue and the period ended: 1-0 Belmont after two.
In the final period, once again, BC High had some early power play time, and once again, Belmont was equal to the task. Junior forward Shay Donahue was able to gain inside ice and steal the puck in the neutral zone and dish it to a streaking Cam Fici who cruised in all alone and buried shorthanded just under three minutes in: 2-0 Marauders. As the period wore on, Belmont continued to wear down the Eagles with active sticks defensively and packing the house to prevent shots from getting through. Even as the period drew to a close and BC High attempted to get the extra man on the ice, Belmont forced them to ice the puck and kept the puck deep in their own zone, canceling numerous breakout attempts. Final score in this one: 2-0 Belmont and a shutout in the first game of the season for Ryan Griffin.
Three Stars
- G Ryan Griffin, Belmont
- F Cam Fici, Belmont
- F Shay Donahue, Belmont
NZ Notes
At first glance, you could tell this was both teams’ first game of the season. Both the Eagles and Marauders were so keyed up that there were an excess of missed passes, overskated pucks, and a few mishandled rushes. Both teams have the thoroughbreds to turn the game into a track meet, but in the end Belmont was able to limit more chances than BC High did. From all appearances over video, it looked as though this Belmont team was bigger and more athletic than we remember from last season, and similarly, BC High looked like they were a step quicker than we remember from last season. These attributes will serve them well over the course of a long season, but both coaches will have plenty to review after this one, finding areas each squad can dial in before their next game.
Belmont was tough to generate chances against in the offensive zone: they were clogging up shooting lanes, blocking shots, playing physical and using the poke check consistently to prevent Grade A looks. BC High can be deadly in transition and you could tell that their game plan was to limit that space and play the body.
BC High has a number of key players back this season and some existing chemistry with their top line of Marshall–Flaherty–McDonnell, who will be a potent triumvirate this year, but they were bottled up here because of that stingy Belmont D. The other key that drives their offensive success is the activation of their points and you saw their defenders creating a lot of the team’s best chances from the outside just by putting shots on net and looking to create rebounds. It wasn’t quite enough tonight, but we have a feeling by the time the Frates Classic rolls around they will be back to form.
Staying with BC High, we liked the physicality of Cormac Joyce and the aggressiveness of Matt Cox, who recognized his team needed a jolt offensively and took it upon himself to create chances. Also, don’t sleep on freshman Pete Luecke who is quick on his feet and processes the game quickly: he looked very comfortable in this game.
Onto Belmont: Cam Fici was dominant, but what the scoresheet doesn’t tell you is that he actually had another breakaway that might have given him a hat trick tonight. He can really activate when he sees an opening and he didn’t give away his shot placement, which is why he scored 2 out of 3 times. Defensively Peter Grace did a little bit of everything tonight: he stapled Eagles to the boards, he protected the puck using his big frame and he skated it out of trouble areas: really solid game tonight. Hard not to mention Ryan Griffin as well, the netminder stayed calm all game long and tracked the puck very well. He didn’t give up many rebounds and he pounced on any loose pucks: this is a tough team to shut down and he was very consistent tonight.