Pope Francis scores five unanswered goals to top St. Mary’s

LYNN — Pope Francis would erase an early deficit, scoring five unanswered goals and capitalizing on three power-play chances, lifting them to a 5-2 victory over Div. 1 opponent St. Mary’s last night at Connery Rink in Lynn.

St. Mary’s (3-1-1) opened the scoring 4:46 in on the power play, with a faceoff at the right dot won back to Brady Bullock, who found a shooting lane and ripped a wrist shot that was redirected home by senior captain Kyle LoNigro to make it 1-0.

Pope Francis (4-0-0) would respond quickly with a power-play tally of its own, as Brandon Spaulding deposited a rebound following a shot from the point by Jack Kennedy, to tie the game with 8:56 remaining in the first.

Just 20 seconds later, Ryan Leonard flew down the right-wing boards, beating a defender with a power move toward the net and finishing with a backhander that found the five-hole, making it 2-1.

The Cardinals would make it 3-1 just eight seconds into their second power play of the night, as Leonard walked to the top of the right circle before labeling a dart top corner to the far side through a screen with 8:10 to go in the middle frame.

On their third power play of the night, the Cardinals and Leonard would capitalize again, as the sophomore stepped into a snap shot from the right circle, this time picking the short side top shelf, to complete the natural hat trick and make it 4-1 with 11:35 to go.

“He’s got a really good NHL-level release,” said Cardinals head coach Brian Foley. “He shoots the heck out of the puck. We like him ripping it but I think the key was we moved it around pretty nicely to get him open, and he doesn’t miss often when he’s one-on-one with a goalie.”

Pope Francis tacked on insurance when Evan Phaneuf broke away and finished five-hole with 9:02 remaining, before Spartan captain Colby Magliozzi netted a late power-play goal with 2:55 to go, rounding out the scoring.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2Y0s0ba