BELMONT – On the scoresheet, Catholic Memorial hockey could not have had a much better start to its Division I title defense campaign.
On Thursday, the Knights traveled to face Belmont, the No. 6 ranked team in last year’s Div. I tournament, and drove home with a 6-0 win.
Knowing what they did last season, Knights senior James Baker knew the outside expectations would be high again.
“There’s definitely a big bullseye on our backs but we don’t care what other people think,” Baker said. “We’re going to go out there play our game … and the score will show itself. That’s why most teams hate playing against us because we play hard, fast, physical, shots on net, crash the net, create chaos, and put teams on their heels.”
It being the season opener, however, Knights coach Larry Rooney knows that nothing was perfect on Thursday, and there’s still a long way to go.
“We were trying to figure out who we were and we’re still trying to figure that out,” Rooney said. “We have a nice returning group of players and I think we have some nice younger players with us but we’re still figuring it out as is every team at this point in the season.
“I saw some good things, I saw a little ugliness in that middle period there. It was a good first step.”
To start the game, the Knight fired off four shots on net in the first minute of play. That momentum was slowed by a penalty by Catholic Memorial a minute and 43 seconds in.
The kill however was ready to go and helped jump start the scoring for the Knights. With 30 seconds left on the kill, AJ Ankstitus stole the puck from Belmont and took off.
The sophomore then found senior James Baker who made the game 1-0.
“Oh it’s great to get on the scoresheet but I got to shout out AJ for finding me open,” Baker said. “We want to start fast, physical, get shots on net, create chaos. That’s how we’re going to win, it’s our formula.”
The opening sit was far from the only play Ankstitus made for the Knights on Thursday. He finished the night with three assists, kicking off what Rooney hopes is a successful season for him.
“AJ is a dynamic player,” Rooney said. “He’s strong on the puck. He’s a little guy but he doesn’t play little. He can be a difference maker for us now that he’s ion his second year and I think we really saw that tonight, he can put some points on the board he’s a good playmaker.
“We’re expecting big things from AJ this year.”
Four minutes after Baker’s goal, Liam McKinney fired away from the blue line. As the puck flew toward the net, Ronan Foley redirected it and scored another goal for the Knights.
Just over a minute after their second goal, Catholic Memorial added on to its lead, once again thanks to its defensemen.
With 7:50 left in the opening period, it was freshman Shaun Farrell who found himself with an open angle on net and he let it rip, making the contest 3-0 and scoring his first varsity goal.
“It feels good, before the game lots of jitters, I was nervous, once I got that, it kind of let the weight off my shoulders a bit,” Farrell said of his goal. “The whole week leading up to tryout and stuff and in tryouts it was nerve-racking, once you get that final call again all that weight comes off your shoulders and all that stress is just gone.”
Farrell, is one of several underclassmen that Rooney has high expectations for as the season starts out.
“He’s a good player, he moves the puck well, he skates well,” Rooney said of Farrell.
As the first period wore on, Belmont had some chances. The team once again got on the power play but the Knights were there to stop it again.
“The game plan was just to get pucks out hard off the glass, lead them to the outside, just protect the house,” Farrell said.
Jaxson Fleming, the team’s freshman goaltender, made five saves in the opening frame, keeping the Marauders silent.
“We did what we had to do to kill penalties and I don’t think they had too many good opportunities on the (power play),” Rooney said. “I like to be aggressive on the (penalty kill) especially when pucks are loose or they’re not moving it as crisp as we would want, so I have our guys making sure they’re jumping on loose pucks and we took advantage of that tonight.”
In the second period the Knights failed to convert on the power play to start things off but quickly made up for it in five-on-five. With just under two minutes gone in the second, Baker found Mike Melvin who made the game 5-0.
Four minutes after that, Daniel Antonellis kept things going for Catholic Memorial’s offense, scoring off assists from Ankstitus and Christian Hinckle.
Though they added to their lead in the frame and held a 5-0 advantage, Rooney felt the Knights weren’t playing up to their standard in the second.
“I think we got ourselves in trouble when we try to overhand the puck or do too much and that was in that middle stanza and we got back to doing what we coach them to do over the past week and a half,” Rooney said. “The third period we moved the puck well and just played simple.
“We told them we weren’t happy with how they played in the second period. I’m not coaching to the scoreboard, I’m coaching to build good hockey habits for each individual and this team. We played individual, ugly hockey in that second period and I know it’s five nothing, but if we do that against the Pope Francis’s or the BC Highs and the St. John’s Preps, it’s going to be in the back of our net. It’s not going to be a five goal game. It’s going to be a one goal game.”
Next, Catholic Memorial will take on Pope Francis, a team they beat in the state semifinals last season. The game is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday at Warrior.
“We’re pumped, we can’t wait,” Baker said of playing the Cardinals. “Our classmates are going to come out and cheer us on. That’s where we started our last run, with our classmates, our teammates, coming out and supporting us, believing in us. It drove us to want to win.”
