Hawks shutout Rams, move into first place

Matt Metcalf, Assistant Sports Editor
Posted 1/27/15

It’s not often that the top two teams in the Championship Division in boys’ hockey aren’t Hendricken and Mount Saint Charles.

Coming into Friday night’s game, La Salle sat atop the …

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Hawks shutout Rams, move into first place

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It’s not often that the top two teams in the Championship Division in boys’ hockey aren’t Hendricken and Mount Saint Charles.

Coming into Friday night’s game, La Salle sat atop the standings with an 8-0-1 record and 17 points – one point ahead of the Hawks.

Knowing that first place was on the line, at least for now, the Hawks came out and avenged their loss to La Salle earlier this season, winning a no-doubter, 5-0, to take over first place.

Hendricken put La Salle on its heels right away, scoring three first-period goals within a span of nine minutes.

It was a start that Hawks’ head coach Jim Creamer’s team needed, as the Rams handed Hendricken a 4-1 loss at Thayer just a month and a half prior.

“It was a great start,” Creamer said. “To get up 3-0 on a team like that was big. They’re such a good team, they work hard and they make you work hard. I thought we did a good job of matching their effort tonight, if not exceeding it.”

La Salle’s senior goaltender, Tyler Walsh, didn’t play in the game, as he’s been battling an illness.

Walsh leads the Championship Division with a 1.15 goals against average.

In Walsh’s absence, the Rams started Taylor Peltier. The junior put forth a good effort, but was unable to minimize Hendricken’s offensive production in the first period.

Just nine seconds into an interference penalty on La Salle’s Joe Manown at 4:02, Pat Creamer was able to get the Hawks on the board.

Creamer collected the puck below the goal line and walked out in front, showing patience before firing a wrist shot past Peltier to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

Less than two minutes later, Andrew Hopgood scored his first of two goals on the night on a wrist shot from the hash mark, giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead. Creamer and Eric Edwards received assists on the goal.

Late in the first period, the Hawks went on the penalty kill after an interference call against Alex Leite.

As it was all night, Hendricken’s penalty kill was impressive to kill Leite’s minor.

Sam Milnes sold out to block a shot on the kill, and two minutes later, he extended the Hawks’ lead.

Milnes collected a loose puck in the neutral zone, beat a defenseman and then Peltier, ripping a shot to the top-shelf over the glove.

While Hendricken’s offense was clicking, so was its defense.

Goaltender Matt Kenneally stopped all of La Salle’s 18 shots, but the Rams had very few quality opportunities, as Hendricken’s defense played well in front of him all game long. Nevertheless, Kenneally was there when the Hawks needed him.

“When he’s good, he doesn’t give up second shots, and that’s what he did tonight,” Creamer said of his goaltender.

Hendricken’s solid defensive play continued through the end of the second period, as the Hawks took a 3-0 lead into the intermission.

Peltier stopped all 13 shots that she faced in the second period, but the Rams weren’t able to provide any support on the scoreboard.

In the third period, Hendricken added some insurance.

At the 5:24 mark of the final period, Ryan King put the Hawks up, 4-0.

King rolled out of the corner with the puck in the attacking zone and made his way to the net, stuffing a shot past Peltier on the short-side.

The goal came after a critical penalty kill, as Reilly Miller was assessed a double-minor towards the end of the second period. There was 2:37 of power play time remaining for the Rams entering the third period.

Any thoughts of a comeback for La Salle coming out of the locker room were quickly forgotten, however, thanks to the Hawks’ penalty kill.

“We took some awful penalties, but they’re kids and they’re going to make mistakes,” Creamer said. “In a couple of situations, we were fortunate that we were able to kill the penalties. We only have a couple of guys that are in that penalty kill mode right now, so we need to develop a couple more of those guys. The guys that did it, did a great job.”

With less than three minutes left in the game, Hopgood registered his second goal of the night, sniping a shot over Peltier’s shoulder, which went crossbar down.

“He was a man tonight – he played great,” Creamer said. “He was all over the puck. When he’s going and going good, he’s very strong. His line was good offensively tonight, they had a lot of chances.”

The Hawks were slated to play Mount Saint Charles on Saturday night, but the game was postponed due to weather. Their non-league game against Malden Catholic on Monday night was also postponed.

Hendricken is set to return to league action on Saturday, as it’ll play Cranston West/East Co-op at Smithfield at 7:30 p.m.

The Hawks will now look to maintain their spot atop the division. First place is a bit more critical than it has been in past years, as there are three legitimate contenders in the Championship Division this year. A first-place finish would mean that the Hawks would avoid La Salle and Mount until a potential match-up in the finals.

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