The Bishop Hendricken hockey team fell to Fairfield Prep (Connecticut) 5-2 in the Mount St. Charles holiday tournament last week at the Adelard Arena.

Despite pulling within a score early in the third period on a goal from William Healy, the Hawks were unable to close the gap as Fairfield scored on two empty net goals in the final two minutes to wrap up the victory.

The defending Connecticut champs took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period, but the Hawks would get a goal from Owen Leahy to knot the score.

Fairfield scored with just four second left in the first to regain the lead heading into the second.

The two clubs battled in the second period, but Fairfield would get another late score to take the 3-1 advantage heading into the final frame.

The Hawks outshot Fairfield in the final period and pushed the pace, but came up short despite having multiple open looks.

“We made some adjustments to try and get it going and the boys responded. They ran with it. We missed a few open opportunities in front of the net, but this is still a young team and they are learning. They will continue to grow,” said Hendricken coach Mike Soscia after the loss.

Although Hendricken fell by two scores, Soscia felt that the game was much closer and that his team will be able to learn from the loss moving forward.

“It’s a good sign, all of the mistakes that we made were correctable. They didn’t outwork us, they didn’t outskate us, they didn’t outplay us, there were just a few bad decisions. That is a sign of a good team though, they took advantage of those mistakes,” said Soscia.

The loss did not affect the Hawks’ league record. Soscia was happy to see his team get a chance to compete against another top-notch opponent, and help provide his staff with a little more clarity as it continues to work on its line combinations and strategy.

“These (exhibitions) are good, I’m still new, we’re all pretty much still new, so these give us a good opportunity to figure out our lines and to see everyone in different situations. It’s a good team building opportunity,” said Soscia. “We are getting there, everyone is getting a chance and we want kids that are willing to buy in, get down and dirty and do the little things. We don’t have a flashy team this year, we don’t have a prolific scorer, but we have a lot of kids that want to get down and dirty so it will be about finding the right combinations.”