Arlington, MA – The Ed Burns Arena was the site of a CCL matchup between the Cougars of Arlington Catholic and the Spartans of St Mary’s Lynn. Coming into this matchup, the Cougars sit at 9th in the Division 1 Power Rankings and the Spartans at 11. This matchup would likely decide who stays in the Top 10, so we had to get eyes on it!
Physicality, toughness and aggressiveness are all words that describe the first period of this matchup. It was a back-and-forth period, but there wasn’t much room on the ice to make plays with each team taking time and space away from the puck carriers. Both teams looked to punish each other early on. With 8:50 left in the period St Mary’s would break the ice. Arlington Catholic made a pass through the neutral zone that was intercepted by St Mary’s junior forward Finn Racki. Racki carried the puck over the blue line and dropped it to teammate junior Colton Carpenter who got a shot on Cougars senior captain/goalie Patrick Clair. Clair kicked the rebound out to Racki who was going to the net and backhanded it past him to give his team the 1-0 lead. Arlington Catholic had two power plays in the middle of the period, but the Spartans’ penalty kill was up to the task and the period ended 1-0.
Arlington Catholic started quickly in the middle period, generating some scoring chances early on but junior goalie Matthew Smith Jr stood tall in net. Smith Jr. was solid early and often to help keep his team ahead in this game. He made a quick right pad save off an in-tight shot that was very impressive. The Spartans defenseman played a tough brand of hockey, and the Cougars needed to grind through contact to get to the net. The Cougars pressed hard and had some great scoring chances, but to no avail. The period ended 1-0 Spartans.
St Mary’s came out in the third and played smart. They got pucks deep behind Arlington Catholic’s defensemen and went to work. Their forecheck was smothering, making it nearly impossible for the Cougars to get good breakouts and generate any speed through the neutral zone. St. Mary’s was content with getting pucks deep and making the Cougars go 200 feet to have any scoring chances. When there were breakdowns in their defensive zone, Smith Jr. was there to shut the door. He made some quality saves down the stretch and frustrated the Cougars. With 6:24 left in the period Arlington Catholic would get another chance on the power play looking to tie the game up. The Cougars had some good puck movement and created some scoring opportunities but once again they couldn’t crack Smith Jr. and came up empty. With under five seconds to go in the game, senior captain Cam McGonagle stole the puck and carried it into the Cougars’ zone with linemate and sophomore Chase Collins. McGonagle slid the puck over to the wide-open Collins who scored on the empty net.
St Mary’s earned the 2-0 road win against the Cougars.
Three Stars:
- G Matthew Smith Jr., St Mary’s Lynn
- F Finn Racki, St Mary’s Lynn
- D Michael Nerich, St Mary’s Lynn