DORCHESTER — Protecting your peace.
It’s a something we all aspire to do, but in this day and age has become increasingly more difficult.
For 17-year-old Colin Kotwicki, it doesn’t seem to be an issue.
When he took over as the starting goalie for the Xaverian boys hockey team this year, Kotwicki was told that nothing was more important than maintaining his composure. So far, he has done just that.
The junior has been at the heart of the Hawks’ undefeated start to the season, which continued Wednesday night as they took down BC High, 3-0, at Edward T. Barry Ice Rink
Kotwicki made 20 saves to collect his third shutout of the season. Through seven appearances, he’s allowed just nine goals, and owns a .948 save-percentage.
“He’s so consistent,” said Xaverian head coach David Spinale. “He’s really focused and dialed in. This year he wanted that net, and he doesn’t want to give it up.”
Xaverian needed Kotwicki to be at his best when facing Catholic Conference rival BC High.
The Eagles had won three straight entering action, countered with their own standout in goal, Dominic Conte (24 saves).
The two netminders battled one another all night long save for save.
The Hawks appeared to open the scoring midway through the first period, but the goal was waved off due to a dislodged net.
BC High had the first real opportunity to open the scoring with a chance on the power play halfway through the second, but could only land one shot on net.
It wasn’t until 17:38 of the middle frame the someone got on the board. As the Hawks applied pressure in the attacking end, defenseman Liam Doherty pounced on a loose puck in the slot, and whipped it past Conte to give Xaverian a 1-0 lead.
Joe Von Handorf added to the advantage minutes later, as he stood in front of the net and deflected in a shot Beckett Soule shot from along the half wall to put the Hakws up by two with 46.2 seconds left in the period.
“We knew that one wasn’t going to be enough‚” Von Handorf said. “We knew two probably wasn’t going to be enough. We had to keep going, keep capitalizing, and keep building. Connor had been bailing us out all game, so we had to do something to help him.”
BC High ramped up pressure in the third, controlling the tempo for the majority of the period. The best Eagles’ opportunity of the night came near the end of the frame, when they earned a power play and pulled Conte to give themselves a six-on-four advantage with less than two minutes to play.
Still, though, Kotwicki maintained his composure. Even under constant duress with heavy traffic in front of his crease and pucks constantly changing direction, he handled every shot he faced with relative ease.
As if he hadn’t done enough already to begin with, Kotwicki contributed to his own cause, setting up Justin Mosher for an empty-net goal with less than a minute remaining that sealed the victory for Xaverian.
“Everything is coming naturally,” said Kotwicki. “My condfidence is pretty high right now. My team is doing an unbelievable job in front of me, blocking shots and keeping everything to the outside.”
After defeating BC High, the Hawks are 8-0 and are off to their best start in two years. While they themsvelves are already ranked as the top team in the Catholic Conference, they know that more challenges lie ahead.
On Saturday, the Hawks pay a visit to Saint John’s at 6 p.m., and then have a matchup with St. John’s Prep next Wednesday before squaring off with powerhouse Catholic Memorial on Jan. 18.
While they’ve won every game so far, the Hawks know nothing is guaranteed going forward.
But as long as they have Kotwicki between the posts, they know they have pretty good chance.
“He‘s unbelievable,” Von Handorf said. “We can’t take him for granted, because he’s been bailing us out every single game. We couldn’t have asked for anything better. He’s playing unbelievable, and all props go to him.”
