RANDOLPH – When a team travels as much as the Pope Francis boys hockey team does, competing in a hostile environment becomes almost second nature.
On Tuesday, the Cardinals took the ice at Zapustas Arena and knocked off their latest victim. Senior captain Matt Regan buried a pair of goals Wednesday, as five different players scored for Pope Francis during a convincing 6-0 rout of Braintree.
“Classic battles with Braintree for a lot of years,” said Pope Francis coach Brian Foley. “Typically, a hard-fought game. Typically like a low-scoring, one-goal game. But just happy to see some guys get on the scoreboard tonight for us. We haven’t had a lot of scoring, so it was good to get some pucks in the net tonight.”
Playing in front of another rowdy crowd, the Cardinals (7-4-2) quickly silenced the Braintree fans as they embarked on an early power play. Liam Dolan collected a pass in front of the Wamps’ net, then picked the corner with a snipe as Pope Francis capitalized on the man-advantage to seize a 1-0 lead just 4:13 into action.
Less than two minutes later, the Cardinals struck again, as defenseman Joey Chianciola drew twine with a long-range missile to push the lead to 2-0 with 8:55 remaining in the opening stanza. It was the first goal of the sophomore’s varsity career.
“It was great,” said Chianciola. “Long-awaited. Definitely due for a while now.”
As the final ticks bled off the clock in the first period, Braintree (2-7-2) attempted to stage a final rush. However, a turnover by the Wamps in their own end led to a quick bid for Pope Francis. Junior winger Gabe Kolodjay fed a perfect pass to Regan in transition, and the forward fired a bullet into the cage with 10 seconds remaining as the Cardinals took a commanding 3-0 advantage into intermission.
Later, with 5:44 to play in the second period, Mason Gatreau helped Pope Francis pad its lead, ripping a shot home from just beyond the slot as the Cardinals extended things to 4-0.
Once the final stanza got underway, the Cardinals kept the pedal to the metal. Quinn Woytowicz found himself in possession of the puck, then made a run at the Braintree net in transition. As the junior winger closed in, he lifted a beautiful wrist shot past the goaltender for another tally, and Pope Francis led it 5-0 with 12:49 left in regulation.
With 8:59 remaining, Regan registered his second goal of the evening to make it 6-0, and the Cardinals were able to easily salt things away from there.
“It felt great to see the net,” Regan said. “Pucks went in the net today, and we’re just going to build off that for Saturday.”
As of this week, Pope Francis was slotted seventh overall in the Div. 1 boys hockey power rankings.
“With the power rankings, goal differential is a key component for it,” Foley said. “To try and get as many three-goal margins of victory (is important), and we haven’t had many. The last two games, we won by three or more. So, that’s a key component of that. Our schedule’s tough, so if we can win games, and win by a margin, we should start to creep up a little bit.”
