The life of a high-level high school hockey player is hectic, usually a constant shuttle from rink to rink for a dizzying array of practices and games, often more than one in a day.
But the last few days of the holiday break have been eerily quiet for Mark Devaughn, Ed Shinnick and their St. Mary’s teammates who were raring to go Monday against a Holy Cross squad it played to a contentious tie in their first meeting on Nov. 27.
“We came out focused, ready to play,” Shinnick said. “We’ve been ready for them since the last time when we tied them. We had that stuck in the back of our heads and we wanted to put a hurting on them. The boys came out ready to play.”
That was evident from the first shift as St. Mary’s jumped in front just 36 seconds into the first period, took a commanding three-goal lead in the opening four minutes and cruised to a 7-0 thrashing of listless Holy Cross at the World Ice Arena in Flushing.
Unlike the first meeting when Holy Cross rallied for the late tying goal, St. Mary’s didn’t take its foot off the gas in a dominating victory.
“Tonight they weren’t going to let that happen and they did an excellent job of attacking the zone,” St. Mary’s coach Joe Trimarchi said.
Michael Leone’s one-timer from the slot gave the Gaels a lead on their first shot of the game and Devaughn and Shinnick followed with back-to-back shorthanded goals on the same penalty kill to put St. Mary’s in front, 3-0, less than four minutes into the first period.
“It gives a lot of momentum to the team, gets everyone in a good position to excel, do better, push yourself,” Devaughn said.
Both goals by the senior defensemen were on breakaways, capitalizing on mistakes at the Holy Cross blue line.
“It’s a big momentum swing,” Shinnick said. “That took the whole energy out of the game.”
The onslaught continued as Matthew Hoppe stuffed the puck in after a scramble in front of the net with 5:58 left in the first, Leone added a power play goal early in the second period and Joe Tracy gave St. Mary’s (3-2-2 CHSHL Class A) a commanding 6-0 lead at 5:31 of the second.
The Gaels were more physical and hungry, seemingly winning every battle along the boards. Sophomore goaltender Matthew Atwell made 28 saves to earn the shutout and Leone completed the hat trick with 1:34 left in the second on a play the entire Holy Cross team gave up on.
“The kids who had to step up for us didn’t want it as bad,” Holy Cross coach Kevin Goodspeed said. “They came out with a chip on their shoulder, they needed this win and our guys, once the first couple of goals went in, gave up on everything.”
While Holy Cross (0-8-1) is struggling in its first season in Class A after winning the ‘B’ championship a year ago, St. Mary’s put itself into the playoff picture with a complete performance in an impressive blowout.
“It felt like a loss,” Shinnick said of the 5-5 tie against Holy Cross earlier in the season. “But we regrouped and a big win tonight got us back in the playoff hunt.”
