Despite shaky third period, Hawks hang on to beat Green Knights

Matt Metcalf
Posted 1/22/15

Despite surrendering two power play goals in the third period on Monday afternoon, the Bishop Hendricken hockey team was still able to edge Notre Dame of West Haven, Conn., 4-3.

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Despite shaky third period, Hawks hang on to beat Green Knights

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Despite surrendering two power play goals in the third period on Monday afternoon, the Bishop Hendricken hockey team was still able to edge Notre Dame of West Haven, Conn., 4-3.

The Hawks dominated the Green Knights over the first two periods, but penalties almost cost Hendricken the game in the final 15 minutes.

Notre Dame made it 4-2 less than two minutes into the third period on a backdoor goal just 10 seconds after Matthew Rickard was sent to the box for a slashing call.

At 7:35 of the third, Clay Audet was assessed a five-minute major for boarding.

Notre Dame’s Joe Ansaldo escaped through the neutral zone and created an odd-man rush, ripping a shot by Hawks’ goaltender Cam Doomany to make it 4-3.

“We got a couple of penalties and we’re short a few guys who kill penalties for us,” Hendricken head coach Jim Creamer said. “They did a good job and their power play was pretty good. We were shorthanded nine out of the 15 minutes in the third period, so it was tough.”

After Ansaldo’s goal, the Green Knights still had 4:29 remaining on their man-advantage.

Notre Dame pressed to find the equalizer, and almost succeeded, as Doomany, who took the pipes for the third period after Matt Kenneally played the first two, turned aside a number of quality chances.

“He’s a great goalie,” Creamer said of Doomany. “It was a tough spot to put him in, but he did what he had to do.”

The Hawks were clearly the better team over the first two periods, nearly doubling the Green Knights in shots on goal.

Audet got the Hawks on the board first at the 12:28 mark of the first period, as he deflected a shot from the point by Bryce Dolan to give Hendricken a 1-0 lead.

The second period was all Hendricken, as it got goals from Jason Comeau on a deflected shot from the point, Pat Creamer on a wrist shot over the goalie’s glove on a two-on-one and a power play goal from Andrew Hopgood off of a Notre Dame turnover and a nice pass by Pat Creamer.

The only blemish in the second period for the Hawks was a power play goal given up, as Notre Dame’s Alec Andreucci was able to receive a pass backdoor and snap it by Kenneally.

When all was said and done, the Hawks took a seemingly comfortable 4-1 lead into the intermission.

That changed quickly when the Hawks were shorthanded right away out of the locker room – a trend that would continue throughout the final 15 minutes.

Although it wasn’t a pretty finish, the game counted as a league game for the Hawks, so getting the win was all that mattered at the end of the day.

Pat Creamer led the Hawks with a goal and two assists, while Comeau registered a goal and an assist and Dolan notched two assists.

With the win, the Hawks improved to 8-1 in league play and currently sit one point behind first-place La Salle. The Rams own an 8-0-1 record, with their one tie coming in a 3-3 game against Mount Saint Charles.

Hendricken will now look forward to a big weekend, as it’ll play La Salle on Friday as 7:30 p.m., before taking on Mount Saint Charles at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Both games will be played at Thayer Arena.

If the Hawks win both games this weekend, they’ll go into next week in sole possession of first place, as they’d leap the Rams by one point in the Championship Division standings.

Hendricken isn’t looking past either opponent this weekend, however. Even though Mount is in third place – which is a rare sight – with a 5-4-1 record, they’re still an extremely dangerous team.

“La Salle is deep and they play hard,” Creamer said. “They have great goaltending and they’re just a good team. And Mount is Mount.”

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