Hockey: West Suffers Fourth Straight Loss

Cranston West came into Monday's match up in dire need of a win, after going 1-3-2 in their last six games. The Falcons were opportunistic and got on the board first, but the Mounties would dominate possession of the puck and score three unanswered to defeat West.

Mount St. Charles controlled play in the early going but made a careless turnover in the neutral zone during a line change. The Falcons took advantage and DaSilva scored his second goal of the season at 5:19 in the first period, giving West 1-0 lead.

"I feel bad for the goaltender. The first shot he saw was one that he waited five minutes for and we got caught in a line change. And it's always tough when the first one goes in," MSC Coach David Belisle said.

Unfortunately for the Falcons, they returned the favor later in the period with a miscue of their own.

"We made a mistake clearing the puck in our own end and they capitalized on it," Cranston West Coach Michael Boyajian said.

Brian Belisle scored the short-handed goal off the Falcon turnover at 12:43 in the first period, firing up his teammates and spurring them on to a tremendous second period. 

MSC dominated the second period, putting 27 shots on net to the Falcon's 4. Falcon goaltender Derek Hagopian was outstanding and held the Mounties scoreless until halfway through the period, when MSC netted two goals in a two-minute span to make it 3-1 Mounties. Belisle lit the lamp for the second time, giving him 5 goals on the season, and Brian Campbell upped his season total to 6 with the third MSC goal of the night. 

The third period would go scoreless and MSC picks up a nice road victory, while the Falcons drop their fourth consecutive game.

A bright spot for Cranston West was their defense, in particular, the play of Derek Hagopian. Hagopian faced relentless pressure all night from the Mounties, saving 60 of 63 shots. Hagopian upped his save percentage to .924, the best percentage for a starting goaltender in all of Division I.

"Our goaltender was outstanding tonight. If not for him it could have been a lot worse. But I thought our defense did a nice job clearing the rebounds out as well," Boyajian said. 

Boyajian has mixed up the lineup in search of more success on the power play, which West struggled with again on Monday with a -1 overall. And he thinks he'll be able to gauge the changes better against some of the less talented teams in the division.

West will take on Moses Brown on Friday with hopes of ending the losing streak.