Spectators filled in the Smithfield Municipal Ice Rink on Saturday to watch a 2-2 hockey game between Bishop Hendricken and Smithfield and honor the memory of a Smithfield student.

Smithfield High School students wore the initials D.D. under each eye and packed their student section as a sign of respect for their fellow student Daniel Dichiara, who recently passed away.

Following a moment of silence for Dichiara and the playing of the national anthem, the two teams played a highly physical and fast-paced hockey game to a 2-2 tie.

This level of intensity was to be expected following a 6-5 overtime win for Smithfield when the two teams last met at Thayer Arena one week before on Dec. 12.

“I just thought they were a little more intense than us last game,” Bishop Hendricken head coach James Creamer said. “And we just had to up our intensity level a little bit and I think we certainly did that.”

As a whole, Creamer felt that his team played “excellent.”

“[I have] no complaints with our effort,” Creamer said. “Our effort was there. Smithfield is a very good team and we’ll take that effort from our guys every night of the week. That was a good hockey game and it certainly could have gone either way and we are okay with that.”

Along with the intensity came a lot of penalties for each side as the special teams units on both teams were heavily tested.

“We do prepare a lot for [special teams],” Creamer said. “I thought our power play could’ve probably been a little bit better.”

Bishop Hendricken came into the game with an 8.7 power play percentage as its power play unit has been struggling to find the back of the net.

However, Bishop Hendricken’s power play did manage to find holes and generate a lot of offense, scoring a power play goal against Smithfield’s solid penalty kill which managed to kill off 80 percent of its penalties.

Creamer was sure to credit his own penalty kill for its efforts in the game as well. “I thought our penalty killing was pretty good. We [almost] killed a five-on-three and they just got one there at the end of it.”

Smithfield was able to generate offense with a man advantage, scoring both of its goals on the power play against Hendricken’s very strong penalty kill unit, which boasted an 85 percent success rate in previous games.

Bishop Hendricken’s Tyler Brown started the scoring with 7:41 remaining in the first period after battling for position in front of the net and deflecting a shot from the point past Smithfield goaltender Evan Carlton. Matthew Rickard took the initial shot. Both Rickard and Brandon Waterman were credited with assists on the play.

Smithfield captain David Gaulin answered for the Sentinels with 1:21 left in the first period after jamming the puck past the pad of Bishop Hendricken goaltender Wyatt Alberigo along the side of the net on the power play. The goal was assisted by Jim Varin and Luca Ragosta.

Waterman scored the only goal of the second period with 13:58 remaining after picking up his own rebound and scoring on a hard cut to the net on the power play to give Bishop Hendricken a 2-1 lead. Rickard and Andrew Hopgood picked up assists on the play.

After being outplayed in the second period, Smithfield came out flying in the third. David Goolgasian capped off the offense on a power play rebound goal to tie the game at 2-2 with 14:40 remaining. Ragosta and Logan Clavet assisted the goal.

While Goolgasian scored the final goal, both teams had plenty of scoring chances before the end of the game. However, both teams benefited from solid goaltending, especially in the final minutes of regulation and in overtime.

Alberigo stood tall when called upon for the Hawks, posting 28 saves on 30 shots. Alberigo made an impressive and timely glove save on a shot off of a faceoff in his defensive zone with 1:55 remaining.

Meanwhile, Carlton played a phenomenal game keeping Smithfield in the contest, despite being outshot by 11. Carlton made 39 saves on 41 shots, including some big saves on several point blank opportunities for Bishop Hendricken.

The game brought Carlton’s save percentage up to .931 and decreased his goals against average to 2.27 on the season. Alberigo’s save percentage rose to .892 and his goals against average improved to 2.69 on the season.

Following the game, Smithfield jumped from third place to second place in the Division I-Cimini standings with a record of 2-1-0-0. Bishop Hendricken remains in fourth with a record of 1-0-1-1.