Chaminade Falls to St. Anthony’s 4-1 in Hockey Opener

Despite a hard-fought effort, the  varsity hockey team opened its season on Tuesday night with a 4-1 loss to defending CHSHL "A" division champions St. Anthony's at Superior Ice Rink in King's Park.

Junior Dylan Corcoran scored 24 seconds into the first period to give the Friars a 1-0 lead. In the first period, the Friars finished every check and commanded the neutral and offensive zones, forcing the Flyers to dump-and-chase at times.

"We have to talk about special teams," said Chaminade head coach Frank Bendl. "They took 11 penalties and gave us every opportunity to be in the game. We only gave them five power plays. It came down to special teams."

One positive that stood out to Coach Bendl was the quality play of Chaminade senior Thomas Dorsey, who stopped 21 of the 25 shots he faced.

"As a goaltender you're taught to just shake it off and keep playing," Dorsey said. "As the game went on, I got a better feel for the ice and the team. I was more comfortable. We're already looking forward to our next game."

Chris Wallace beat Dorsey to the bottom right corner of the net and scored the first of his two goals of the game to extend the Friars' lead to 2-0. Dorsey's crafty command of the crease kept the game close at crucial points.

"I think Dorsey probably stopped three breakaways," Bendl said. "He was our Marty Brodeur out there tonight."

With St. Anthony's ahead 3-0 after Wallace's second goal late in the second period, the Flyers played with a two-man advantage for more than two minutes. Senior defenseman Michael Gallagher took two hard slap shots that couldn't quite break St. Anthony's goalie Sean Keating, a junior who started for St. Anthony's last season as well.

"We were a little gun shy and just couldn't get going," Bendl said. "We had a few minutes left and I thought we could have closed the gap and got two."

However, St. Anthony's made it back to even strength safely with just enough time remaining for Chris Sabanos to raise the score to 4-0. Despite a promising effort, Chaminade failed to convert several power plays before the second period ended.

Chaminade played a strong third period and began commanding more of the ice. Seniors Norman Riker and Dylan Scarpato both played aggressively down the stretch, working to help narrow the gap.

Keating made 23 saves in net and played nearly perfect hockey for the Friars. But Nicholas Falco netted Chaminade's first goal of the season and ended the shutout with 3:10 left in the game.

"It felt good to break the ice," Bendl said. "Had we had that earlier, I thought it could have been a different game. You're not going to win in this league by just scoring one goal."

Chaminade will have an optional skate – because of the Thanksgiving holiday – on Friday at Iceworks in Syosset. Chaminade will play a home game against Fordham Prep on Sunday at Abe Stark Skating Arena in Coney Island. Face-off time is 4:30 p.m.

CROSS CHECK: Iceworks is the official practice facility of the New York Islanders and the team practices there on a regular basis…The Fordham Prep Rams finished 10-9-6 last season under head coach Alan Pilla… Former Ram Kevin Clare is now playing hockey at the University of Michigan.