Belmont walls off Chelmsford in 4-0 win
Much of the focus Belmont boys hockey coach Tim Foley emphasized this week revolved around playing a simple, hard, physical game with a lot of structure for these playoffs.
What followed in the 10th-seeded Marauders’ Div. 1 state tournament first-round matchup against a red-hot No. 23 Chelmsford team Thursday night at Skip Viglirolo Rink was the best all-around performance they’ve put on the ice all season.
With a dominant forecheck and quick breakouts, Belmont controlled play from start to finish en route to a 4-0 win over the Lions. Peter Grace tallied two goals within a 4414 shot advantage, largely aided by a spectacular effort on special teams to limit two shots on net through four penalty kills.
Chelmsford still put a few quality bids on Marauders senior goalie Greg Federico amid a 14-save shutout, and sophomore goalie Mark Bierwirth starred opposite him with 40 saves. It wasn’t enough to keep Belmont from moving on, though, as it gets set for a rematch of last year’s playoff loss to No. 7 Xaverian on Sunday at noon.
“That was our most complete game,” Foley said. “I thought our forecheck was really good, I thought our structure was good. We kept hemming Chelmsford, they’re a good team, they have some skilled players who can move the puck.”
For as strong as Belmont came out by producing a bevy of turnovers at Chelmsford’s blue line and allowing just five shots on Federico, it only held a 1-0 lead by the end of the first period. Shay Donahue’s goal came on just seven shots as the Lions kept the affair close.
When three penalties in the second period forced the Marauders to cover four consecutive minutes of penalty kill, and 50 total seconds of a 5-on-3 disadvantage, the Lions had an excellent chance to cover the little ground it lost, too. But penalty kill and overall defense are two of Belmont’s main calling cards, and allowing just one shot on net in that time only fueled it.
“It’s a dangerous situation to get yourself and the team into when you take those penalties … you just can’t take those penalties,” Foley said. “But having said that, we practice our mandown a lot. … After we killed those penalties — we have about five players that play up front on the mandown, and we try to use three D on the man-down. Then we can get our other guys out there and they have a ton of energy, they’re able to kind of get the momentum back pretty quick.”
Right at the tail end of the last penalty, Grace registered his first goal for a 2-0 lead with just over four minutes left in the frame. Shots on net ramped up to end the second period with a 16-4 advantage, and Belmont carried that over into the third. Cam Fici (goal, assist) and Grace each tallied a score within a 21shot final frame, sealing
off the win.
Allowing just 14 shots overall on Federico, who is perfectly suited to stop much more in a shutout, played a huge part in a playoff win that could
never get old.
“It’s just ecstatic, every day with these boys is just amazing,” Grace said. “Another day, another practice, another game is all we can ask for. … This game
specifically, we were able to keep them to the outside and definitely hem them in their zone instead of have them in our zone. Our defense all year has been our strong suit.”