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Molloy hockey trounces Christ the King, 8-0

By Dylan Butler

Paul LiVecchi knew the Christ the King hockey team would come out fired up to play against its Queens rivals Monday night. Too fired up, the Molloy junior found out, as the Royals took a pair of early penalties.

LiVecchi made Christ the King pay with back-to-back power play goals less than four minutes apart to give the first-place Stanners a quick two-goal lead en route to an 8-0 rout at Rye Playland.

“We knew they were going to come out strong,” LiVecchi said. “To get two early goals was fortunate.”

Christ the King had an excellent chance to get within one goal with 3:27 left in the first period, but sophomore Harrison Knee made a glove save on John Del Rios’ low wrist shot off a turnover.

Justin Murphy beat Christ the King goaltender Frank Rizzo with a wrist shot high glove side 2:07 into the second period to give Molloy (9-2-3 CHSHL B) a three-goal lead and suck any confidence out of an already deflated Christ the King team that is still looking for its first win.

Andrew Anastasio and Murphy added back-to-back shorthanded goals three minutes apart to give the Stanners a 5-0 cushion after two periods.

“We didn’t do what we had to do to compete, we got outworked basically,” said Christ the King coach Pat Boller, whose team dropped to 0-11-1. “They’re a good team, but are they 8-0 better? I don’t know about that.”

Sean Murphy, Anastasio and Matt Davino (2 assists) added third-period goals for the Stanners, who, along with Holy Cross, have already clinched a playoff berth.

“We’re still learning to play position, to play defense, to do the simple things,” said Molloy coach Richie Rodgers. “Basic Hockey 101.”

Molloy will look to clinch first place in the CHSHL ‘B’ division when it wraps up its regular season at 9:45 p.m. Saturday against Kellenberg at the Ice Hutch in Mount Vernon.

Christ the King completes its season with games against Kellenberg (Thursday at 5:15 p.m. at Murray Rink), St. Edmund (Friday at 10 p.m. at Abe Stark Rink) and St. Peter's (Monday at 8:35 p.m. at the Ice Hutch).

Molloy 5, St. Peter’s 5. The Stanners rallied from a 3-0 first-period deficit to tie St. Peter's Saturday at Abe Stark Rink on Coney Island. Jimmy Grogan, Davino, Sean Kearney, Greg Neuendorff and Mike Sangiamo scored for Molloy. Ron Tinao scored 2 goals to lead third-place St. Peter’s (7-3-3).

Holy Cross 5, St. Edmund 5. Mark Goetzger had 2 goals, including the unassisted go-ahead tally with 1:33 left in the third period for Holy Cross (7-4-4), which outshot St. Edmund 39-16. But Danny Gale tied the game at 5 with his second goal of the game with 31 seconds remaining Saturday night at Abe Stark Rink.

Chris Ryan also had a goal and an assist for the Knights, who meet St. Edmund again at Murray Rink Thursday at 7 p.m.

St. Peter’s 4, Molloy 3. Kearney scored 2 goals and Davino added 1 for the Stanners Friday afternoon at Murray Rink in Yonkers. P.J. LiConti had 2 goals and Joey Rigatti added 2 assists for St. Peter's.

Holy Cross 4, Kellenberg 3. Ryan scored 2 goals, Joe Temperini and Rob DiRico each added 1 apiece for the Knights last Thursday at Murray Rink. Nick Garcia scored 2 goals for Kellenberg (6-6-2).

Xavier 5, McClancy 2. Keith Morrice and Anthony DeMarco scored for McClancy (7-6 CHSHL ‘C’) last Thursday at Murray Rink. First-place Xavier (13-1) was led by Ralph Marucci, who had a goal and an assist.

McClancy 6, Bishop Ford 0. Jason Andjelovic had 2 goals and 2 assists, Kevin Moran had 2 goals and 1 assist, Morrice and Matt Sammut added 1 goal apiece and Charles Gonzalez had 3 assists for the Crusaders Feb. 19. Sean Rock made 11 saves to earn the shutout for McClancy, which takes on Salesian at the Ice Hutch Friday at 10:05 p.m.

Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by email at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.