Mount Everett Hockey Holds on for Win

SHEFFIELD, Mass. — Playing its third game in three days, the Mount Everett hockey team ran into some trouble in period No. 3 on Monday afternoon.

 

But the Eagles had enough left in the tank to preserve a 4-3 victory over St. Mary at the Berkshire School.

 

Jake Corcoran scored two goals and added an assist, and Jonah Swotes made 25 saves to lead Mount Everett (4-1-1, 3-0-1 league).

 

Jonas Malicky and Noah Hunter also scored for Mount Everett, which got all its offense in the second period.

 

But the game featured contributions from throughout the lineup for the Eagles, who spent the weekend going 1-1 in a tournament in Albany, N.Y., leading into Monday's matinee.

 

"We had a couple of key shifts from people haven't had a whole lot of ice time this year," Mount Everett coach Aidan Gilligan said. "Jenny Dunn had a great shift to close out the second period where we sent her out there. She did a great job chipping the puck along the boards in her own zone to get it into the neutral zone and then went out and blocked a shot, too.

 

"Those type of things — they really stepped up when called upon, the people who haven't skated as much. Those are the contributions you need to win a game."

 

On Monday, Mount Everett also needed good penalty-killing. The Eagles gave up eight man advantages, including two on four-minute penalties and one with 27 seconds left and St. Mary already playing with six skaters.

 

After St. Mary earned the initial faceoff in the Eagles' zone, Swotes made a save, and Mount Everett was able to block the rebound and clear the zone, killing off the remaining few seconds to secure the victory.

 

"It was ugly in that sense," Gilligan said of the penalties. "There are definitely some things we have to clean up in terms of staying out of the box. You can't afford to be spending half the game short-handed. I thought our penalty kill did a pretty good job tonight.

 

"Our defensemen didn't too bad. Jonah Swotes had a great game. He kept us in there, considering he faced a lot of shots."

 

A lot of those shots came in a scoreless first period that saw the Saints outshoot their hosts, 8-2.

 

But Mount Everett turned the game around right off the faceoff to open the second period. The Eagles controlled, and Corcoran raced in to break the scoreless tie just seven seconds into the stanza.

 

Midway through the period, Malicky converted the rebound of an Adam Derwitsch shot to make it 2-0 and start a run of three goals in four minutes.

 

Corcoran followed on a rush up the right wing, and Hunter scored a power play goal in short order to make it 4-0 after two periods.

 

"We talked about being a little more fundamentally sound between the first and second [periods]," Gilligan said. "In the defensive zone, we just didn't do a good job of taking the body. We watched them skate in every single time. I thought we did a good job the beginning of the second period of taking the body, creating a few turnovers and getting the puck deep in their zone.

 

"If we get it in the offensive zone, our forecheck can go to work. But until we get it out of our own zone, that's not going to happen."

 

After killing off the first four St. Mary power play tries through two periods, Mount Everett finally allowed a man-up goal to start the third. And a second power-play goal moments later made it a 4-2 game with 11 minutes, 32 seconds left to play.

 

Three minutes later, St. Mary closed to within a goal with an even-strength tally.

 

The Eagles killed off one full man advantage with 3:20 left as well as the mini power play (with the Saints skating 6-on-4) at the end of regulation.

 

Mount Everett travels to North Adams to face Wahconah on Saturday at 7 p.m.