Thinking about tomorrow

boys' hockey
No. 1 Catholic Memorial 6, No. 12 Hingham 3

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Fresh off a four-point performance that paced his top-ranked Catholic Memorial boys' hockey team to a 6-3 triumph over No. 12 Hingham Saturday night at Pilgrim Arena, Derek Colucci should have been more enthused.

But a lackluster third period left the sophomore center thinking more about Sunday than anything that happened Saturday.

"Tomorrow will be a good practice for us," Colucci, who scored a goal and added three assists, said with a splash of determination and maybe a pinch of fear. The Knights surrendered three third-period goals to allow Hingham back into the game and that performance surely won't sit well with coach Bill Hanson.

Hanson admitted as much afterwards when he noted that a few players had failed to, "play with in themselves... We'll correct that tomorrow at noon at (Boston University)."

But Hanson was otherwise diplomatic on the heels of a game that the Knights absolutely dominated for the first 30 minutes. Catholic Memorial scored three times in each of the first two periods and outshot the Harbormen, 23-6, during that span (and even that might have been generous by the Knights' scorekeeping crew).

Colucci scored the game's first goal unassisted and -- along with junior defenseman Garrett Noonan and senior Mike Collins -- fueled the three-goal, second-period outburst. But asked how much the poor third-period showing took away from the positives, he was brutally honest.

"A lot," he answered. "But hopefully we learn now and we won't do those things during the playoffs, or later in the season."

In the other locker room, Hingham coach Garrett Reagan refused to settle for any sort of moral victory. While he believes the late goals could certainly help his team's morale if these two sides were to meet again (cough, cough, Super 8), Reagan was also realistic that his team has a ways to go to reach the level that CM is on.

"We've got plenty of time to work on the things we need to work on," Reagan said.

Collins scored twice in the second period, redirecting a Noonan blast at 4:31, before tapping home a Noonan rocket at 13:35. In between, Noonan added his own zip into the twine to help the Knights build a 6-0 advantage. Colucci assisted on all three goals in that second stanza.

But the Knights got a little too comfortable. CM's defensemen started freelancing a bit too much and that led to opportunities for a very talented Hingham squad and the Harbormen gladly capitalized.

Junior James Wilson, junior Charlie Cifrino, and senior captain Stephen Sypek all potted third-period goals to pull within three with six minutes to go. The outburst awakened the Knights, who proceeded to shutdown Hingham's offense until the final buzzer.

"We played well, even in the third period," admitted Hanson. "(Hingham goaltender Nate Eagan) made some good saves... we had some selfish play by our defensemen... that's hockey."

Catholic Memorial improves to 5-0-1 overall (the Knights tied St. Sebastian's earlier this season), while Hingham falls to 7-1-1 (the Harbormen tied Needham).