Anthony Sarno's hat trick carried the Warriors to a 5-2 win on Monday.
KINGSTON – A consistent offense and a big third-period push allowed the Blue Hills boys hockey team to score the game’s final four goals and defeat Sacred Heart 5-2 on Monday afternoon at The Bog.
The Warriors (8-4) outshot their hosts in all three periods, compiling a lopsided 39-19 tally unofficially, as Saints junior goaltender Jake Egan was busy but effective. Ultimately, the Warriors wore down the Sacred Heart defense with three goals in the final period.
The Saints (4-7) have been battling injuries and their already thin roster, and could only skate 11 players Monday, and the fatigue factor was evident.
Senior captain Anthony Sarno (Avon) notched a hat trick for Blue Hills, continuing to add to his season’s torrid scoring pace, which has him over 40 points after just a dozen games.
“Sarno has got to be among the state’s leading scorers,” said Blue Hills coach Jerimiah Bonham. “When he’s on, he’s pretty tough to stop. But the core of our team is our 10 seniors, who’ve all been playing since they were freshmen.
“When I took over four years ago, we had just seven players coming back, so that freshman class was what we had to build on. Six wins has been our most over the last four years, so for us to have eight wins already is a real testament to those kids’ dedication.”
Sacred Heart scored the only goal of the first period when seventh-grader Mike Bulger (Hanson) redirected a slapper from eighth-grader Jack Silva (Bridgewater) past Blue Hills goalie Cam Doherty at the 13:16 mark.
Blue Hills unleashed 17 shots on net in the middle period, but the inspired Saints hung in with 10 of their own. Just before the 10-minute mark, Sarno scored a power-play goal, his close-range shot from the right side riding up and off Egan’s facemask on its way to the back of the net. But just 32 seconds later, Sacred Heart replied, as senior Josh McCafferty (Weymouth) sent junior Spencer Irving in on a quick rush up the left side, restoring the Saints’ lead at 2-1.
Blue Hills tied the game with 15 seconds left in the second period. The goal was credited to senior Nick Blaney (Braintree), who was parked in the slot, but the puck was inadvertently tipped in by a Sacred Heart defenseman.
That was disheartening enough, but the continued Warriors attack would have the weary Saints back on their heels for most of the final frame.
“We are very young, with seventh- and eighth-graders playing major roles,” Sacred Heart coach Sean Coady said. “We had a short bench today, with effectively just 11 skaters, and they kind of wore us down.”
“Blue Hills is a good team, and much more experienced and mature than us,” added Saints assistant Matt Cox. “Today we were missing three players due to injuries, including one of our best – freshman Christian Koylion (Plymouth) – so our gameplan was simply to try to hang in there. Our goalie played very well, and we hung in there as long as we could.”
Blue Hills put this game away in the third period, as Blaney knocked in a rebound at 4:16 for the go-ahead score. Sarno added two insurance goals in the final five minutes to send the Warriors home with the victory.
“We kept at it, after that funny first period, where we had 23 shots and their kid stopped all of them,” said Bonham, whose team plays Sacred Heart again on Saturday in Canton. “Then they got that fluky goal to take the lead. It was important for us to stop their power play in that third period, and one thing we did was put a man on (Silva), who is their best player, which limited their options.
“This season so far has been a very nice change for us – we’re not used to being on the winning side so much. We hope to make the state tournament, which would be another real achievement for this senior class, which has really rebuilt this program.”