PLAYOFF HOCKEY PREVIEWS

Hawks face tough semifinal series against Mount

Posted 3/12/15

On Saturday night, the Bishop Hendricken hockey team had a chance to secure the top seed in the Championship Division tournament.

Unfortunately, the Hawks came up short, falling to La Salle, 3-0, …

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PLAYOFF HOCKEY PREVIEWS

Hawks face tough semifinal series against Mount

Posted

On Saturday night, the Bishop Hendricken hockey team had a chance to secure the top seed in the Championship Division tournament.

Unfortunately, the Hawks came up short, falling to La Salle, 3-0, as the Rams took control and clinched the one-seed for the playoffs.

As a result, the Hawks earned the two-seed and will be forced into playing a much tougher semifinal series against third-seeded Mount St. Charles. Hendricken finished the regular season with a record of 13-4-1, while Mount will come in with a record of 8-8-2.

The rematch of last year’s finals will begin on Friday night at Thayer Arena at 7:30 p.m.

Although Hendricken ended the regular season with a loss, it is a confident team heading into the playoffs.

“It would’ve been better to finish with a win, but we didn’t play badly against La Salle,” Hendricken head coach Jim Creamer said. “We finished the season well overall, and we have some confidence.”

The Hawks dominated the regular season match-ups against the Mounties, winning three of the four games and tying the fourth. In the final game last Wednesday, Hendricken rolled to a 7-2 win over Mount at Thayer.

But Creamer has seen Mount plenty of times in the postseason over the years and knows what it’s capable of. He and his team won’t take the Mounties lightly this weekend.

“It’s a new season and they’re a difficult opponent,” Creamer said. “It won’t be easy. They’re a tenacious team and they play really hard.”

The Hawks have matched-up well with Mount this season, but because of their work ethic, the Mounties can be a dangerous team.

Mount is also tough in a three-game series because that assures it one game at home, as the Mounties have the best, and maybe the only, home-rink advantage in the state.

Because of this, game one at Thayer is crucial for the Hawks, as they don’t want to go to Adelard Saturday night down 1-0.

“They’re the only team in high school hockey that has a home-field advantage,” Creamer said. “Game one is definitely important for us.”

Although the Mounties won the state championship last season, winning games two and three after dropping the first, the Hawks gained some valuable playoff experience – enduring the emotional ups and downs that occur throughout the entirety of a championship series.

One player that Creamer feels is better for his experiences last season is goaltender Matt Kenneally.

The Hawks will lean on their senior netminder to stifle opposing offenses in, what they hope will be, a successful playoff run.

“Matt has had some success in the playoffs, but he’s also had to go through some adversity,” Creamer said. “I think going through that adversity will help him more than anything else. He’s an excellent goalie and he should do well for us.”

The familiar opponents will be reacquainted on Friday, with the puck dropping for game two at 9 p.m. at Mount’s Adelard Arena on Saturday night. If a game three was needed, it would take place on Monday at Thayer with a time to be determined.

On the other side, La Salle will take on Smithfield, after the Sentinels defeated Cranston West in the play-in game, 3-1, on Tuesday night.

The winners will meet in the state finals next weekend at Brown University.

Creamer and the Hawks aren’t getting ahead of themselves, though. They know that there is work that needs to be done this weekend.

“We’re taking it one game at a time,” Creamer said.

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