The Tommies once again showed their ill-discipline as they were humiliated 8-2 Friday night by the surging St. Mary’s Huskies.
Jonathan Bonneau took a hooking penalty only five seconds into the game, sending the Huskies to the powerplay. Patrick O’Keefe promptly punished the Tommies, sliding a loose rebound under Tommies goalie Charles Lavigne after the initial two shots had been saved.
“You know, it’s just stupid,” Tommies head coach Troy Ryan said of Bonneau’s penalty. “We always kind of get in people’s face a little bit…but that’s just us being stupid.”
It didn’t get much better for the Tommies from there. After the Huskies dumped the puck into the offensive zone, Lavigne played the puck behind his net, waiting for a teammate to take control.
It never happened. Brad Smith swooped in and stole the puck, skated back behind the goal and slid the puck into the gaping cage to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.
“He’s got to be better,” Ryan said of his starting goalie. “He was bad, but we didn’t give him any help either.”
Lavigne nearly had another gaff late in the first period as a high-defensive-zone clearance by the Huskies whisked through his glove, bounced off the glass and rolled dangerously inside the blue paint. But he managed to clear the puck in time.
The Tommies went into the first intermission down 2-0, but the ill-discipline of the team shone through, much to their head coach’s displeasure.
“We’re trying to play more passionable, more aggressive and it just ends up working against you,” Ryan said.
The Huskies picked up a bench penalty to start the second period for delay of game, which gifted Steve Sanza a couple of great chances to get the Tommies back in the game.
A slap shot from the blue line was tipped in front by Sanza, but Huskies goalie Neil Conway just got enough of the puck to keep it out of the net. Moments later, Sanza had a wide-open net after a loose rebound by Conway, but as Sanza shot, a Huskies defenceman got his stick on the puck and knocked away the goal scoring opportunity.
The Huskies soon made it 3-0 as Jared Grant tucked home a loose puck five hole on Lavigne after a fight for the puck off a faceoff.
The Tommies were once again denied with a wide-open net looming as Mike Reich was blatantly tripped, but no penalty was called on the play.
Jeff Marchand made it 4-0 for the Huskies as he poked home a rebound after Lavigne couldn’t control Jamie Doornbosch’s slap shot from the blue line.
“They’re first four goals, they did nothing,” Ryan said. “It was just us completely screwing up.”
Randy Cameron got the Tommies on the board at the 18:45 mark with a gorgeous spin around backhander, with Mike Reich and Brad Gallant picking up assists on Cameron’s 13th goal of the season.
The Huskies restored their four-goal lead early into the third period as Colby Pridham notched home the rebound after skating around Lavigne, who was out of position after initially saving O’Keefe’s shot.
Lavigne’s rough night was finally over as Ryan pulled him after Lucas Bloodoff made it 6-1 with a tame shot that went through Lavigne. Back-up goalie Justin Collier played out the final 14 minutes for the Tommies.
Kyell Henegan, who hasn’t registered a point all season, nearly scored his first goal, but his wrist shot from the left face-off circle rang off the post.
The Huskies didn’t stop the onslaught as Bloodoff scored his second goal of the game at the 12:07 mark after Collier couldn’t control Shawn O’Donnell’s wrist shot from the faceoff circle.
Bloodoff completed his hat trick only 11 seconds later after prodding home the puck after a scrappy sequence in the defensive zone.
The final 12 minutes were played out in rather tame fashion. The Tommies kept pressing, but the closest they came to getting past Conway again was when Chris Van Laren hit the post.
As for the Tommies ill-discipline, Ryan used the analogy of a bell curve to describe it.
“It’s a typical little bell curve with adrenaline and passion and stuff and it works to your advantage to a point, but then it works against you,” he said.
But Ryan admits it was just a disastrous game from the start for his team tonight.
“It was just a bunch of screw ups all over the ice that cost us.”
