Hawks, Mounties set to go again

Rivals back at it in title series for seventh time in nine seasons

Posted 3/13/14

On a collision course seemingly every season, this one was no different for the Bishop Hendricken and Mount St. Charles hockey teams.

Starting Friday, the state’s two most consistent hockey …

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Hawks, Mounties set to go again

Rivals back at it in title series for seventh time in nine seasons

Posted

On a collision course seemingly every season, this one was no different for the Bishop Hendricken and Mount St. Charles hockey teams.

Starting Friday, the state’s two most consistent hockey powers will vie for the top prize again.

The top-seeded Hawks and second-seeded Mounties square off this weekend in the state championship series, the seventh time in the past nine years that the two programs have played for the title. Including this one, Hendricken has now played in 20 state championship series – and 19 of them have been against Mount.

This season marked the eighth consecutive year that one has finished first and the other second in the standings. Essentially, it’s early March, and with only a few recent exceptions, that means it’s time for Hendricken-Mount.

“I think the rivalry itself, sort of the legacy of the whole thing adds a level of respect to it,” said Hendricken head coach Jim Creamer.

Hendricken, without a loss since Jan. 24, is coming off a two-game semifinal sweep of No. 4 Smithfield this past weekend. Mount, winners of every game this season against in-state teams other than the Hawks, is fresh off its own semifinal sweep, as it dominated No. 3 La Salle 5-0 and 5-2.

While some of the past years have given a clear edge to one team or the other prior to the finals, this year’s version has two teams that are virtually even and needed a head-to-head match-up on the regular season’s final day to decide between the first and second seeds. Any indication one way or another can be traced back to the team’s head-to-head match-ups, in which Hendricken won three close games.

The Hawks and Mounties are the top two-scoring teams in Division I, with Mount scoring 75 goals compared to Hendricken’s 74. On the other end of the ice, they are the two stingiest teams in D-I, with Hendricken allowing 27 goals and Mount allowing 31.

“It’s what we expected,” said Hendricken goaltender Matt Kenneally. “It should be a great series.”

And while there is an appreciation for the history of the series between the two teams, this year’s version has a slightly new element – a complete lack of experience on the Hendricken side.

As Mount won its fifth state championship in six years last season, Hendricken missed out on the finals after being eliminated by La Salle in the semifinals.

The last time Hendricken was in the championship series, in 2012, it won its third-ever championship with a senior-laden squad. Yet, the one-year break from the championship series has left the Hawks with almost nobody who has played on Rhode Island’s biggest stage. The only player who saw legitimate minutes in 2012 was then-sophomore Andrew Fera, the team’s leading-scorer this year as a senior.

“It’s a new experience for a lot of them,” Creamer said. “I think there are positives and negatives with that, but the positive is that they’re so excited about it. So hopefully we can build off that enthusiasm.”

So far, not much has slowed Hendricken down. It has had consistent scoring from three lines, with Fera and Pat Creamer leading the way with 25 and 23 points respectively. The defense has been steady, and the goaltending of Kenneally – with Christian Maselli in relief – has been among the best anywhere.

In the past, Hendricken teams have been defined by stars at the top. This year, it’s all been about depth and consistency for the Hawks, who have it in spades.

“We just need to play consistent in all three areas,” Jim Creamer said. “We don’t do anything great. We do a lot of things well. I don’t think we’re prolific scorers. On the same end, we didn’t give up a ton of goals. We’ve got that balance there. We’ve got to be good in net, we’ve got to be good defensively. We’re going to score three or four goals on average, but we’re not going to get six or seven.”

Mount is built similarly, devoid of stars at the top like Brian Belisle, who was one of the top players in the state the past few seasons.

That isn’t to say that they don’t have plenty of talent, but there isn’t necessarily one player to focus on or one who does most of the heavy lifting.

“I think we have a little more depth than they do,” Creamer said. “I think they play a shorter bench a little bit. But I think the kids that do play, they’re all the same.”

Experience-wise, as the defending state champs, Mount is in a far different boat than Hendricken. Its top players – Devin Votta, Pat Holmes, Keith Phaneuf and Marc Squizzero – are all juniors or above.

And perhaps the most experienced, and most important, of all of Mount’s top-level contributors is goalie Brian Larence.

A senior, Larence was the starter in net each of the last two years, and he’s been one of the best in the state again this year. He’s allowed only 26 goals while playing an astounding 736 minutes, good for a 1.59 goals against average, tops in the state amongst regulars.

“He’s sort of been their consistent guy,” Creamer said of Larence. “In three games we’ve put about 110, 115 shots on him and he’s done a really nice job. Brian is an excellent goaltender and he’s a senior. That’ll be tough for us.”

But if Hendricken does have any edge, it’s probably the way it has played the Mounties head-to-head this year. Mount suffered four losses on the year – one out of state, and three to Hendricken. All three games the two teams played were close, but the Hawks came out victorious in all of them.

On Dec. 6, early in the year, both teams put 42 shots on net but Hendricken broke a late 1-1 tie on a Pat Creamer goal to win 2-1. On Feb. 19, the Hawks played their most complete game of the season in a 4-1 victory. Then, in the last game of the regular season two weeks ago, Hendricken won 1-0 and out-shot the Mounties 27-24.

“I think they’ve got a healthy respect for them,” Jim Creamer said. “We certainly don’t look at it like we’ve beaten them three times and it’s going to be a cake walk this weekend.”

It’ll all come to a head for the 20th time in history this weekend, with game one slated for Friday at 7 p.m., game two scheduled for the same time Saturday and a third game, if necessary, scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday. All the games will be played at Brown University’s Meehan Auditorium.

Once again, Hendricken is trying to scale the Mount.

“It’s a great time of the year,” Creamer said. “It’s the last week of practice. They feel like they’ve accomplished quite a bit and at the same time they very clearly want to win this weekend.”

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