‘Canes elude Spartans’ upset bid, pull away in third period

Jacob Marrocco
Posted 3/3/15

The Scituate High School boys’ hockey team were in position to push for their second win of the season when they took a 2-1 deficit into the third period against Warwick Vets on Saturday …

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‘Canes elude Spartans’ upset bid, pull away in third period

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The Scituate High School boys’ hockey team were in position to push for their second win of the season when they took a 2-1 deficit into the third period against Warwick Vets on Saturday night.

Then, ‘Canes’ freshman winger Collin Csoszor showed up. He scored four times in 15 minutes, his second hat trick in as many nights, to lead Vets (9-7) past the Spartans, 6-1. The ‘Canes have out-scored Scituate 26-4 in three meetings this season.

“I just have to try hard,” Csoszor said. “I’m happy that I’ve got my linemates, Jake Mitchell and David Kowalik, to help me out and get a few goals. I just had to come out strong and I had to look [at] what’s open.”

The ‘Canes’ points leader got his strong third period going when he put a power-play goal past Scituate senior goaltender Ethan Joslin from the right side of the net. Csoszor skated past the Spartans’ defense and shot the puck between his legs past Joslin for his second score soon after.

Following a slashing penalty on Scituate freshman Aidan Pendergast, the ‘Canes were back on the power play six minutes into the third. Csoszor and his unit once again took advantage, when he registered a natural hat trick despite a diving effort from Joslin. His fourth goal came less than a minute later on another man advantage, when he positioned himself on the right side of the net once again to put the game out of reach for Scituate (1-15).

“We were taking them a little too lightly,” Vets’ head coach Mike Boyajian said. “First couple periods, we were shifting lines around, doing a couple of things we might not necessarily should have been doing as early as we did. Their goalie stood on his head, he played lights-out for the first two periods. So once we started getting those power plays, started capitalizing in the third, you started to see our offense get going and that’s when we got the end result.”

Joslin stopped 23 of 29 attempts from Vets, with 16 of his saves coming in the first two periods. Senior goaltender Colby Howard made 24 saves on 25 shots-on-goal for the ‘Canes to pick up the victory.

The Spartans managed to get on the board first, when senior defenseman Lucas Mancinelli broke away from the ‘Canes’ defense and backhanded a shot past Joslin. Scituate’s defense stifled numerous opportunities for Vets, including a breakaway shot attempt from sophomore winger Mitchell 10 seconds into the game.

Vets’ senior captain, Tyler DePetrillo, and junior winger, Matt Palombo, managed shots on Joslin in the first period, too, but the netminder covered each of them up. The Spartans played physical defense and congested the front of the net to force outside shots, which allowed them to take their lead into the first intermission.

The ‘Canes responded with tough play of their own in the second period, but still could not manage to find the twine. Mitchell had a chance inches in front of Joslin on the power play and sent the shot over the goaltender, followed by a couple of diving saves.

“I jokingly said in the first period, ‘Who is this kid and what has he done with our friend Ethan?’” Scituate head coach Bill Bryant said. “He made some great saves. He kept us in it early on in the game. Warwick Vets is a tough team. They’ve just played hard from the start of the game to the end of the game.”

Finally, junior winger Brandon Major equalized on a pass in front of the net from Csoszor that he put past Joslin at the 5:43 mark. Freshman defenseman Andrew Canning followed up with a goal of his own five minutes later that squeaked under Joslin’s pads to put the ‘Canes up for good.

Vets was able to hold Mancinelli, who is playing with a shoulder injury, to very few shot opportunities after the first period. Most of his chances in the final 30 minutes came from no closer than the blue line.

“We told them ‘Shut down No. 8,’” Boyajian said. “Keep him on the outside, don’t let him get in, don’t let him take any shots and we executed.”

The intensity spiked after Vets’ junior winger, Jennah Sequeira, was on the receiving end of a hard hit with four minutes left in the game. She remained down on the ice for a couple minutes before skating to the bench under her own power.

The Spartans were unable to claw their way back in the waning minutes after a string of Vets’ penalties, ranging from tripping to boarding, resulting in a 5-on-3 for nearly the rest of the game. Despite being down two players, the ‘Canes managed to control the puck for a better part of the penalty kill.

The ‘Canes will look to continue their winning ways when they host Ponaganset High School this Friday at Thayer Ice Arena at 6 p.m. Vets was shut out by the Chieftains, 5-0, at Levy Rink on Jan. 17. Scituate faces off with the Johnston/North Providence Co-op team this Friday at the Smithfield Municipal Rink at 7 p.m.

“Any given night anything can happen,” Boyajian said. “We’ve been saying heading into the playoffs it does not matter what we did in the regular season. As you can see with Scituate tonight, after the first two games [against them], we eased up on them. Tonight we couldn’t ease up. You can’t take a team for granted on any night.”

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