Scarborough 4

St. Dom’s 2

Any questions about whether Scarborough’s hockey team could survive after graduating 16 seniors last year were answered Saturday night when the Red Storm picked up a convincing 4-2 win over perennial power house St. Dom’s at USM Ice Arena. Trevor Hoxsie led the Scarborough attack with a pair of second period goals and Ben Waller stopped 24 shots to earn the win.

“Our goalie was the one who kept us in the game, that’s for sure,” said Scarborough coach Jay Mazur. “(St. Dom’s) rotated the puck well in our zone. Basically we relied on Wally. It was Wally’s game, it was a goalie’s game.”

In order to win in hockey, not only do you need to keep the puck out of your own net, you need to put it in the other team’s net. Scarborough did that for the first time just 3:36 into the first period. Just before the three-minute mark, Spencer Teixeira was called for a penalty and the Storm had their first power play opportunity. They took full advantage of it when Buddy Reid fed the puck to Nick Tolman who stuffed it home for a 1-0 Scarborough lead.

“Clearly they are a hard-working team,” Waller said of the Saints. “They are well-coached and they came out flying. We came out a little flat at the start, but I made a few saves and let up a few rebounds. But the defense was able to put it in the corners and keep it away from me.”

Just 32 seconds into the second period, the Red Storm doubled their lead when Hoxsie recorded his first goal of the night on a great individual effort. But the Saints came roaring right back. Less than a minute later, Richard Paradis put St. Dom’s on the board.

Shortly after the Paradis goal, Alex Cornelio was sent to the box and the Storm had another power play chance. And just like before, they cashed in. Andrew Nigro fed the puck to Hoxsie who fired a one-timer past Saints goalie William Emerson to make it a 3-1 game.

St. Dom’s came hard out of the gate in the third period and pulled back to within a single goal. Less than a minute into the period, Hunter Wood was called for a penalty and that allowed the Saints a man advantage. Paradis notched his second goal of the game during the ensuing power play.

But that was as close as they would get. Scarborough hung onto the lead despite several good chances for the Saints, including a two-man advantage midway through the period.

“We expected them to come out strong because they needed a couple of goals and they are a quick team,” Waller said. “But our defense was able to keep them toward the boards and with the big ice surface, the shots came from the outside.”

With just over four minutes left, Nigro added an insurance goal to make it a 4-2 game and the Red Storm held on for a 1-0 start to the season. They were scheduled to take on Falmouth on Thursday.

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