Belmont Clips BC High 3-1

Belmont, MA – In a big midweek, non-league game, the Mauraders of Belmont High School hosted the Eagles of BC High at the Skip Viglirolo Rink.

Belmont came out on fast and their top line controlled the first couple minutes of play in BC High’s end, recording a few quality shots on net but the momentum would change quickly. BC High began getting pucks deep and aggressively forechecked Belmont’s defensemen creating turnovers below the goal line that they transitioned into some scoring chances. Although BC High controlled most of the zone time, Belmont did a great job of playing their structure in the defensive zone and kept most of the shots to the outside. About halfway through the period senior sniper Cam Fici would collect a puck high in his own defensive zone and feed senior forward Shay Donahue screaming down the left wing. Donahue was one-on-one with the defender, took a step over the blue line and fired a shot that beat BC High junior goalie Christian Gonsalves high glove side to give Belmont the 1-0 lead. Belmont senior goalie Greg Federico made some timely saves to keep BC High off the board.

The 1-0 lead seemed to give Belmont some confidence and it showed in the second period. The Marauders did a great job in all three zones. They were dumping pucks in and putting pressure on the BC High defenseman. Belmont was relentless and caused BC High to turn pucks over in some prime scoring areas. All three of Belmont’s lines played their role to perfection. This is one of the main reasons why they carried the momentum for most of the period. That is also why they would take the lead when Fici would collect a puck from Donahue in the high slot and rip it past Gonsalves to take the 2-0 lead. That would be our score after two.

BC High decided to switch goalies and start Adam D’Errico for the third period. Belmont continued to play within their system, dumping pucks and making it hard for BC High to get clean breakouts and gain any speed through the neutral zone for the first part of the period. Down 2-0, BC High started to generate some offense getting some quality odd-man chances but Federico was up to the task. The Belmont netminder made two lateral saves on odd-man rushes that stole potential goals from BC High; but it was only a matter of time before BC High would get on the board. Junior forward David Williams coming down the right wing put a puck on net and Federico made the first save but senior forward Jackie Murphy would bang home the rebound in a scrum in front of the net to cut the lead in half. After the goal, there was no panic on the Belmont bench. They really clamped down in their defensive zone, blocked shots and played very disciplined hockey for the rest of the period. BC High would pull their goalie with under a minute left trying to take advantage of the 6-on-5 but Belmont’s Donahue would pick off a pass and feed Fici who went in alone and scored on the empty net. That gave Belmont the 3-1 lead and sealed the win for the Marauders.

Three Stars: