Boys’ Hockey Rebounds Against St. Paul’s

Recovering from an overtime loss at Brooks School on Wednesday, Exeter boys’ varsity hockey came home to a packed barn and won 7-0 against St. Paul’s School last Saturday.The energy of the game was on fire from the start as captain and senior Trevor Cosgrove put one in the net within the first two minutes of the first period. After the loss at Brooks, the boys knew that they had to be mentally prepared to play a tough team and bounce back with a win. Minutes after Cosgrove’s goal, upper Ryan Moore was put in the box for a penalty. However, this didn’t stop the high energy of the game, as Cosgrove, with Moore still in the box, netted his second goal for Big Red seconds later.Upper Paul MacDonald commented on how the team worked together to come back from the loss earlier in the week. “We worked on our power play this week, especially our penalty kill which payed off early in the game when Trevor got a short-handed goal. That’s when the boys started rolling,” MacDonald said.St. Paul’s sent one of their players into the box for a penalty seconds after Cosgrove’s second goal. With both teams down a player, senior Ben Solin juked past two St. Paul’s Pelicans as he snuck in yet another goal for Exeter. Down 3-0 in the first five minutes of the game, St. Paul’s called a timeout.For this game, Big Red was missing three essential players to injuries: captain and senior Peter Christie and postgraduates Christian Thompson and Matt Brooks. Luckily for the team, upper Collin Shapiro was back for his first game of the season after an ankle injury during the fall term Exeter/Andover games.“It’s always tough playing with so many guys injured, but the crowd pumped us up early on and we took control of the game with three goals in the first,” upper Jack Jenkins said.Only half a minute into the second period, postgraduate Ryan Petti sailed Big Red’s fourth goal into the net. At this point both teams began to increase their physicality, leading to ten penalties in this period alone. One major penalty of five minutes was given to Exeter, and Shapiro was sent off the ice for the rest of the game. Ten minutes in, Solin snuck past St. Paul’s defense, scoring again for Big Red. Two minutes later, Moore notched his first goal of the game.Within the first three minutes of the third period,for knocking out Solin, St. Paul’s was given a major penalty of five minutes. Minutes later, upper Noah Maercklein scored his first goal of the season. For the rest of the third, more penalties were given out, and the fast-paced speed of the game never diminished.The close-knit team came together, worked through the losses, and won 7-0 against the tough competitor St. Paul’s. Senior Derrick Spencer commented on how the dynamic of the team aided in this victory. “We are a very deep team with lots of good players and some of our freshmen stepped up and made contributions when we needed them to,” Spencer said.Prep Hunter McCoy, an essential player with ample playing time, expressed his gratitude for the leadership of the upperclassmen. “All of our seniors are great role models and show what it’s like to play to win,’” McCoy said.The team’s next home game will be at 4:30 p.m. against Andover on Saturday, Jan. 16. As Big Red’s biggest rival, this game will prove to be one of the most challenging games of the season.Senior Devin Moore hopes that the team will be aided by a large crowd of fans as the boys usually feed off the energy of the crowd. “The game against Andover is always a battle. The better team doesn't always win—it’s usually the team that plays the hardest and the smartest,” Moore said.Spencer agreed with Moore that the team needs the crowd’s support. “Saturday is simply two very good teams playing each other in a battle fueled by lots of emotion,” he said. “Every time Exeter and Andover come together it doesn’t matter too much how each team is doing individually.”Although Big Red will face Big Blue again at Andover during Winter E/a, Saturday will be the only chance to see this year’s teams go head to head on Exeter’s own rink. Come out, pack the barn, and cheer on boys’ varsity hockey on Saturday, Jan. 16 at 4:30 p.m.