Solid start
Mount forecheck keys victory over St. John’s Shrewsbury
The Mount boy’s hockey team is out of the gates at 2-0 after beating St. John’s-Shrewsbury at Adelard on Tuesday, 5-3.
WOONSOCKET — If you looked past the vaudevillian nature of the Mount St. Charles hockey team’s opening goal Tuesday afternoon against St. John’s of Shrewsbury, Mass., you saw a change in the Mounties’ defensive approach.
Days after allowing Burrillville to do whatever it wanted in its own zone, the Mounties refused to let the Pioneers break out of their zone thanks to an aggressive 1-2-2 forecheck, which led to defenseman Robert Macnamara lobbing a puck from behind his net off a teammate’s helmet and past an unsuspecting Dan Laursen to give Mount a first-period lead.
The Mounties, who were missing standout forwards Bryan Testa and Alex Pratt, continued to create offensive-zone turnovers, which led directly to goals. Trey Bourque produced three points, Michael Canavan and CeeJay Laquerre each had a goal and an assist, and Chris Baxter chipped in with two assists in Mount’s 5-3 victory over the Pioneers at Adelard Arena.
“We used everybody we had on the bench, and that forecheck is what Mount uses when it’s playing well,” Mount coach Dave Belisle said. “I told the kids that our problem wasn’t in the offensive zone today because we forechecked really well, but we scrambled a lot in the defensive zone. Boy, when we dumped it in and forechecked, they couldn’t get out of the zone. That was good for us.”
Mount St. Charles (20, 1-0 Division I) received goals from five different players to win its second straight home game headed into Friday’s contest against a Smithfield team that came into Adelard and eliminated the Mounties in the Division I quarterfinals in March.
One player who didn’t play in those games but has quickly become Mount’s most indispensable player this season is senior goal Ryan Forget. Now that he’s the unquestioned starter in net, Forget has started the season confidently. He saved a pair of first-period breakaways against the Broncos and he made 24 saves in Tuesday’s win.
His best save Tuesday came on a breakaway by Dhillon Wilde in the second period. Forget made a great right pad save and he saved a point-blank shot moments later to keep the Mounties in the lead.
“Over the summer I built my confidence back up and focused on my game,” Forget said. “I bounced back. Before games I’m trying not to overthink it, I’m just looking at it as another game where I have to go out there and do my thing. That seems to be working for me right now.”
“He’s been our best player the first two games this year,” Belisle said.
St. John’s reached the prestigious Super Eight last season, but the squad is struggling for consistency in the opening week of the season. The Pioneers, who received a pair of goals from senior captain Tim Farley and a goal and an assist from Wilde, lost to Braintree (Mass.) to start the season. The Pioneers face St. Peter Marian at the DCU Center Saturday.
Mount, which didn’t record a point in its contests with Massachusetts teams last season, opened the scoring 7:02 into the first under bizarre circumstances. Even though he hadn’t touched the puck in the offensive zone, senior defenseman Alex Gonfrade was credited with the goal.
St. John’s took advantage of Mount’s biggest problem early in the season – exiting its defensive zone – to tie the game at 6:30 of the second period when Matt Myers connected with Farley for a goal.
The game remained tied for just 40 seconds because Mount took advantage of an SJS penalty to take a lead it would never relinquish. Laquerre tipped a Canavan shot from the point past Laursen (23 saves). Junior John Belisle extended the lead to two with 38 seconds left in the period when he netted a goal on a four-onone. Laquerre received the primary assist on the tally.
“I thought we played strong, especially that Belisle, Canavan, CeeJay line,” Belisle said. “We’ve been hurting with injuries with Pratt and Testa out of the lineup. I was very impressed with their effort today. That group played very, very well.”
Wilde, who was instru- mental in St. John’s victory at Adelard last season, cut the deficit in half 3:02 into the final period when Mount’s forecheck broke down, which allowed Farley and Myers to move the puck into the offensive zone.
Mount restored it’s twogoal advantage with another power-play goal, as Bourque had a close-range shot saved, but Canavan was on hand to rip the puck into the net. Farley netted his second goal of the game at 12:32, but Bourque scored an empty-net goal with 15 seconds left in the game. Bourque has three goals and two assists in the first two games.
As well as the Cumberland resident has played, Mount is undefeated in the first week of the season thanks to the play of Forget.
“The difference this year is a lot of drills,” Forget said of improving his rebound control, which has dogged him the last two seasons. “In practice I take shots from the point and there are players in front of the net who are there to put in rebounds. I know it’s a five-on-zero, so I know I either get the rebound away or it’s a goal.” St. John’s Shrewsbury 0 1 2 - 3 Mount St. Charles 1 2 2 -5 First period – MSC, Alex Gonfrade (unassisted), 8:02.
Second period – SJS, Tim Farley (Matt Myers), 6:30; CeeJay Laquerre (Michael Canavan, Trey Bourque), pp, 7:10; MSC, John Belisle (Laquerre, Chris Baxter), 14:22. Third period – SJS, Dhillon Wilde (Myers, Farley), 3:09; MSC, Canavan (Bourque, Baxter), pp, 6:45; SJS, Farley (Wilde), 12:32; MSC, Bourque (unassisted), en, 14:45.
Saves – SJS, Dan Laursen (23 saves); MSC, Ryan Forget (24 saves).