The University School boys’ hockey team opened WIAA state tournament play by defeating St. Mary’s Springs 3-1 in a Sectional 8 Regional Final game held Friday night at USM.

After a close, competitive, and scoreless first period, the Wildcats, seeded-first in the Sectional, scored two second period goals on shots by senior Jake Kandel and junior Brandon McGill against the eighth seeded Ledgers.  Junior Mitchell Grebe scored a goal for the Ledgers just before the buzzer ending the second period.  McGill scored his second goal in the third period to seal the victory for the home team.
Mac Schmidt made 29 saves for USM while sophomore Colin Ahern stopped 26 between the pipes for St. Mary’s Springs.

“It sure was playoff hockey,” said Jason Woods, USM’s head coach, after the victory.  “Two teams were playing for their survival.  There was tight defense and solid goaltending.  We knew Springs would be ready.  We were ready too.  Fortunately, we were able to beat a very underrated Springs team and advance.  Now it's back to work to get ready for another battle with Arrowhead on Tuesday.”

The two teams had penalties to kill in the middle of the first period.  The Ledgers’ penalty killers successfully killed a five-minute major penalty and the Wildcats killed two overlapping two-minute penalties.  The shot totals were 8-6 in favor of the Wildcats in the opening frame as the two teams assessed each other as they sought scoring opportunities.

USM scored the game’s first goal while on a second period power play.  The Wildcats moved the puck into the St. Mary’s Springs’ end and worked it around.  Eventually senior defenseman Jerzey Judge got it in the middle of the blue line.  He passed the puck to Kandel, positioned in the left circle.  Kandel one-timed a shot that hit off the near post and careened behind Ahern at 2:14.

The Wildcats increased their lead at 12:28 of the period.   Just after the Ledgers had killed off another penalty, the Wildcats got the puck into the ledgers’ zone.  Senior defenseman Tommy Ferrara stopped a breakout pass and whipped the puck deep into the zone.  It went to senior Billy Miller who skated it behind the net.  As he came around, Miller sent a sharp pass to the slot to McGill who was all alone.  McGill fired a quick wrist shot past Ahern for the score.

As the final seconds of the period ticked away, the Ledgers won a faceoff in the USM zone. junior Johnny Welsch got the puck at the blue line and took a shot.  It hit off a USM defender and bounced into the right corner.  Freshman Zach Welsch got it and passed it to the high slot to junior defenseman Kaine Mertens who quickly took a shot. Schmidt came out to block it.  The rebound cascaded into the center to Grebe.  Grebe spun away from defenseman and backhanded the puck across the goal line.  The clock showed that there was no time left in the period.  But the puck went in before the buzzer to trim USM’s lead to 2-1 heading into the third.

The battle continued in the final period. Tension filled the air for the fans that packed the rink.  They knew that it was still anyone’s game and the next goal would be a decisive one.

USM scored the important next goal midway through the third period.  On the play, freshman Andrew Malek gained control of the puck in the USM end and sped away on a two-on-one with McGill.  Malek raced down the left side.  As he skated through the circle, Malek saucered a pass across the low slot to McGill, who touched it past Ahern at 8:45.

The loss ended St. Mary’s Springs’ season.  The Ledgers ended up with a 3-21 record. USM moves on in the state tournament playoffs. The Wildcats are now 17-6-2.  They play their sectional arch-rival Arrowhead at 7:30 p.m. in a Sectional 8 Semi-Final game on Tuesday, February 23rd at USM.