BOSTON — In the high school hockey world’s first look at Catholic Memorial, the Knights dominated, taking down Falmouth 9-0.
From start to finish, CM controlled play and established its dominance through physicality, making life tough on Falmouth puck carriers.
The Knights scored two goals in the first period, but opened up the flood gates in the second, scoring four in the middle 17 minutes and three in the final frame.
Falmouth had its chances. Its best came in the first period when Matt Quinlan had the puck with what looked like a wide-open net but was denied by the right leg of CM goalie Owen Watson (Newton, Mass.).
RANKINGS: Preseason boys MIAA hockey rankings
Here were the standout players from Saturday night.
Finn Burke
Catholic Memorial, 6/2/2004, D, left-shot
Hometown: Newton, Mass.
NCAA: Bowdoin
The smooth-skating defenseman set a tone early when he carried the puck from behind his own net with ease, made a nice outlet pass and went straight for Falmouth’s far post where he deposited a pass from freshman Darragh Curran (Canton, Mass.) to open the scoring. Burke was dominant on CM’s back end, constantly moving the puck out of his own zone well and creating scoring chances.
Connor Fryberger
Catholic Memorial, 10/25/2005, FWD, right-shot
Hometown: Needham, Mass.Â
Fryberger was a force for CM, dishing out bruising hits to Falmouth players getting in his way and notching a hat trick. Two of his goals came from finishing off 2-on-1s, while his other came on a rebound. He did it all Saturday night. CM will be happy if he continues that trend. Playing with Fryberger was freshman forward Nick D’Olympio (Rockland, Mass.), who also had an outstanding game with two goals and some great plays off the rush.
Tyler Hamilton
Catholic Memorial, 12/7/2006, FWD, right-shot
Hometown: Framingham, Mass.Â
Hamilton was such a great play-driver on Saturday night, constantly moving the puck through the neutral zone and into the attack zone for his linemates, Joe Marchi (Foxborough, Mass.) and James Koo (Brookline, Mass.). He scored on a slapshot off the rush early in the second period. In the third, there was a sequence in which he carried the puck around the offensive zone and evaded defenders until he got the perfect shot. He came into this season with high expectations surrounding him, so starting off on the right foot was vital. He did that Saturday.
PREDICTIONS: Preseason All-MIAA Teams
Joe Marchi
Catholic Memorial, 10/30/2007, FWD, right-shot
Hometown: Foxborough, Mass.Â
Marchi set a tone with his first shift. The 5-foot-7 forward casually laid out a Falmouth defender in open ice. From there, the freshman had a great night riding shotgun to Hamilton, creating chances for himself, like when he hit the crossbar in the first period. He has a great shot and played off of Hamilton well. He may be on the smaller side, but it’s hard not to notice him.
Jack Braga
Falmouth, ‘05, G, catches: right
Hometown: Falmouth, Mass.Â
Yes, I know. Surrendering nine goals usually doesn’t lead a goalie to appear on the standouts list. But Braga was legitimately getting rubber thrown at him from the first minute of the game to the last. It was only 2-0 after the first period — it could’ve easily been worse for Falmouth and it wasn’t because of Braga. His aggressiveness led to some of CM’s goals but other than that, Braga did all he could.
