Cheverus/Yarmouth boys’ hockey coach Dave St. Pierre credits his six seniors for setting the stage for the team’s success this season.
Wednesday afternoon in a Class B South quarterfinal against York at Troubh Ice Arena, those seniors produced three goals and five assists, leading the co-op team to victory in its first postseason test.
Senior Kevin Connolly set the tone with a goal just 14 seconds in as the third-seeded Stags opened up a 3-0 lead after one period, extended it to 5-0 after two and went on to a 5-1 victory over the sixth-seeded Wildcats.
Cheverus (13-5) and will take on No. 2 Brunswick in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday at Bowdoin College’s Watson Arena.
“It’s great to have great senior leadership on this team,” said St. Pierre. “We have six tremendous seniors who have done a lot for us. They’ve stepped forward today in a big, big way, and I expect them to keep doing that.”
The Stags couldn’t have asked for a better start, applying immediate pressure. Connolly took a pass from fellow senior Oliver Prinn and had his shot denied by York goalie Ben Soares (22 saves), but then got the rebound and sent it home for a quick 1-0 lead.
“I shot the puck and saw it hit the defenseman and go in,” Connolly said. “That set the tone for the rest of the game.”
Cheverus then scored twice in 28 seconds for some breathing room.
At 7:07, Connolly set up Andrew Cheever to make it 2-0. Senior Matt Robichaud also was credited with an assist.
Before that goal could be announced, the Stags struck again, this time with Robichaud finishing (from Prinn) for a 3-0 advantage, which goalie Neal McQuarrie preserved with a nice save off a blast from Gordon Diment late in the period.
After holding an 13-3 shots advantage in the first period, Cheverus didn’t have as many opportunities in the second, but still scored twice to add to the lead.
This time, York (6-11-1) came out fast, but a quick shot on a rush from Joe Neal was turned aside by McQuarrie.
After Robichaud hit the post, Cheverus got its fourth goal at 9:08, as Prinn scored on the rebound of a shot from senior Wyatt Header.
“It was a good team effort from start to finish,” Prinn said. “Everyone came to play tonight.”
Then, after the first penalty of the game was called late in the second period, Cheverus struck again on the power play, as Ryan Franceschi roofed a shot past Soares and just under the crossbar. Cheever and Connolly got assists.
York got on the board when freshman Garrett Aceto scored unassisted at 4:15 of the third.
“We did what we needed to do to prepare, but as prepared as we were, we needed everything to fall into place and instead, everything kind of went the wrong way,” said York Coach Peter Douris.
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