Southborough, MA -St. Mark’s Lions hosted Cushing Academy, one of only three 20-win teams in New England Prep Hockey, at 5 pm on Friday.
The first period was all Cushing. Justin Brisebois stood on his head in the net for the Lions, making multiple huge saves. The Kole Hyles, Luke Goukler, and Josh Iby line dominated for the Penguins, generating offensive opportunities every shift they were on the ice. St. Mark’s held strong and kept the score 0-0 after period one.
The Penguins owned the second period, with their hard play in the first leaking over to the second. The first goal came from Emerson Marshall, who was a puck hawk all game, scored from a tip shot in front of the net from a blast by Ryland Randle with 13:07 left in the second period. Eleven seconds later, Cushing’s Alex Gomes won a puck battle in the corner and took it hard to the net for a goal. Alexis Boily and Axel Favreau added assists. St. Marks got their chance when Max Santos shot out of the zone for a breakaway but was shut down by Marco Bilic, who won his first big challenge of the night. The Penguin’s Marshall scored his second of the period with 2:51 to play after a huge hit he made in his defensive zone that caused a turnover on which he later capitalized. Bronson Hunt picked up the only assist. A positive for the Winged Lions was that they shut down four Penguins’ power plays in the period.
The third period was more Cushing Academy until the end. Brendan Agnew popped home a beautiful back-door pass from Favreau with 9:43 left to play. Boily picked up a secondary assist for his second of the game. The Penguins struck again five minutes later on Phil Aube’s goal with a nice shot off of a face-off to close the scoring out. St.Marks couldn’t find an answer, which led to a Marko Bilic shutout and a 5-0 Penguin win.
Three Stars
First: Marko Bilic (Cushing)
Second: Emerson Marshall (Cushing)
Third: Kole Hyles (Cushing)
