'We're buzzing': Gardner/Murdock hockey zips past St. Bernard's for 7th straight win

GARDNER — Who knows how much time had elapsed — 10, 15, or as much as 20 minutes — following the conclusion of Wednesday’s Central Mass. Class C semifinal between the St. Bernard’s and Gardner/Murdock ice hockey teams, but there was Wildcats junior goaltender Mark Quinn strutting in and around the lobby of Veterans Arena still wearing his full uniform.

Well, aside from his gloves and facemask, that is. The junior had dropped them off in the locker room before returning to the lobby where there was lots of handshaking and celebrating to be done with fans who simply didn’t want to leave.

“We’re rolling. We’re buzzing. The boys are having fun and that’s what matters, right?” said Quinn. “We get our goals when they matter and the huge fan section out there was awesome. That was the best part.”

The goalie, who brushed off a shaky start, made 14 saves and held the Bernardians’ offense quiet long enough to let Gardner/Murdock’s balanced offense strike once again as the Wildcats used five goals from five separate skaters to zip to a 5-2 win over St. Bernard’s.

Undefeated in the month of February, Gardner/Murdock (12-7-0) has reeled off seven consecutive wins and will try to make it eight when it faces Littleton in the Central Mass. Class C title game on Friday at 12 p.m. at NorthStar Ice Sports in Westborough. The Tigers advanced courtesy of an 8-1 win over Lunenburg/Ayer-Shirley in Wednesday’s other semifinal.

“We’re playing as a team and that’s the biggest thing. Everybody has bought in,” Gardner/Murdock fifth-year head coach Scott Freniere said. “We’re playing our best hockey right now which is what you want to be able to be doing at this time of year.”

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Balanced scoring has been crucial to Gardner/Murdock’s success

Entering play on Wednesday, there were 42 skaters across Central Mass. with more points scored than Chris Merchant, the Wildcats’ team leader with 20 points (9 goals, 11 assists), including four Bernardians: Hunter Lammi (44), Ben Stout (42), Colin Majowicz (37), and Nick Tomczak (21 pts).

But the Wildcats’ strength hasn’t been the production of one or two stud scorers, but the collective contributions of a roster which has nine players who have scored at least seven points on the season.

The balanced scoring occurred again on Wednesday as Ty Burdett, Jayden Patel, Drew St. Peter, Zach Boucher and Hunter Barlow each tallied a goal in the victory. The first and last names on that list, by the way, are both defensemen from Narragansett who scored on a wrist shot from the high slot and on a tip-in from the side of the crease of a bouncing puck off the end boards, respectively.

“We want to get in there and be aggressive on the forecheck and crash the net,” Freniere said. “We preach all the time that we don’t have any superstars on this team. Obviously our goalie stands out, but when it comes to our lines we all have to work together as a team. When we are working together we are pretty successful and the kids have seen that.”

St. Peter’s goal was the epitome of what Freniere said he and his coaching staff have preached to the Wildcats about crashing the net.

Tied 2-2 nearing the midway point of the second period thanks to Patel’s game-tying goal, Patel made a bid for a second goal in the frame with a shot from near the top of the right faceoff circle.

Cutting across the crease, St. Peter tipped the shot in the air and redirected it past Bergeron (26 saves) for what proved to be the game-winning goal at 7:05 of the second period.

“Drew’s was really symbolic,” Freniere said. “Those are the little thing that make all the difference in the world and it makes us happy that the kids see it.”

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Fast start for shorthanded St. Bernard’s

The visiting Bernardians (11-8) stepped onto the Veterans Arena ice with just 11 skaters, including goalie Chase Bergeron, but it didn’t take long for St. Bernard’s to quiet the raucous Gardner/Murdock crowd.

Ryan Gallant and Tomczak scored goals 35 seconds apart just a little over two minutes into the contest to give the Bernardians a quick 2-0 lead.

“After the first puck goes in, I’m usually like, ‘Ok, next one,’” Quinn said, “but then when two goes in, you get a little nervous and you don’t want to upset the home fans. But we came back and that’s what matters.”

And having faced St. Bernard’s twice during the regular season, the veteran Wildcats goalie knew to expect the Bernardians to continue attacking no matter how tired their legs might have been.

“We know they’re a fast team and physical and they’re just hard-working,” Quinn said of the Bernardians. “They have 10 kids and they just don’t stop and that’s the most impressive part.”

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Advancing to face Littleton

Perhaps some Gardnern/Murdock fans were holding out hope for Lunenburg/Ayer-Shirley to upset Littleton in Wednesday night’s other semifinal — the— ’Cats swept the Blue Knights in Coughlin Conference play this season — but the Wildcats have had success against the Tigers, too.

Just last week, on Wednesday, Feb. 15, Gardner received a goal each from Chris Merchant and Gavin Richard and another strong performance in net from Quinn to defeat Littleton, 2-1, at Veterans Arena.

"We have a win against both of them so we know we can beat them.  We have a lot of drive from last year and losing to Oakmont (in the final),“ Freniere said. “We're playing with confidence but we still have that edge to us where a lot of teams still takes us lightly and see us as the old Gardner. We kind of feed on that sometimes. We want people to take us lightly and then show people that we're a way different team than we were five years ago."

The Wildcats may not be looking forward to the 12 p.m. opening faceoff, but they are eager for the opportunity to play for a Central Mass. title.

“Noon is questionable. We’ll have to make some phone calls,” Quinn said with a smirk, “but we can beat any team in the state, I think.”

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Gardner/Murdock hockey zips past St. Bernard's, into tourney final