Hendricken downs La Salle in hockey playoff preview - just not of the round you're thinking

SMITHFIELD — The parking lot at the Smithfield Municipal Rink was filled with cars spilling over to adjoining lots and into the middle school lot across the street. The line to get in stretched well outside the door.

Friday’s game between Hendricken and La Salle felt like a playoff game, but because February just started, it was more a playoff preview — and not in the round you’re thinking about.

The Hawks got stellar play in goal from Colin Murray over the first two periods and opened the third with two goals in the first 69 seconds before cruising home with a 6-2 win that didn’t do much to change the path the two teams are on as potential semifinal opponents.

“That’s something we’ve talked about as a team,” said Murray after his 41-save performance. “We’ve had a lot of talks about how the playoffs might play out.

“It looks like [Prout] might have an advantage there but we’re just trying to play as hard as we can the rest of the season and we’ll worry about it when we get to it.”

Prout has been the story of the season, starting with its 3-1 win over La Salle on the first weekend of the season and beating Hendricken three weeks ago. The Crusaders haven’t lost this season and, at this point, it would take two over their final six games — which includes a matchup at Boss Arena against La Salle Saturday — to drop to the No. 2 seed. With how Prout has played, that seems unlikely.

That means Hendricken and La Salle — who have played in four of the last five state championships series or games that were actually contested — are likely going to play each other for a chance to play for the state title.

It shouldn’t change how the teams do business. Friday’s night’s matchup had some serious juice, with a palpable buzz in the stands that only happens when two of the state’s best get together.

Hendricken’s didn’t outplay La Salle in the first two periods, but it didn’t need to because Murray outplayed everyone.

The senior was outstanding despite giving up a La Salle goal late in the first period. Nobody needed intermission more than Murray, who made 26 saves in the first two periods.

“It’s nerves at first, but once you get the first one, you start to hit a groove,” Murray said. “The boys helped me out out there; they’re blocking shots. They kept it relatively where I could see it and they helped me out a ton.

“Sometimes, in an environment like this, there’s so much adrenaline you can’t even think about [having given up a goal]. It skips your mind and you’re on to the next one.”

“It all starts in the back,” senior All-Stater Griffin Crain said. “He was a stud today, he always is. We just fed off him and got going the other way.”

After La Salle’s Connor Pacheco snuck one past Murray with 3:28 left, Crain found an equalizer before the period ended. The Hawks rode that momentum into the second, where John LaRose scored 3:10 into the period and with Murray standing on his head, the Hendricken lead remained 2-1 at intermission.

The Hawks came out flying for the third period, taking over as the aggressor. On an early power play, LaRose popped one home 44 seconds into the third and, with La Salle still staggering after the goal, Crain netted his second goal 25 seconds later to make it 4-1.

“Really just keep going hard knowing if we play our way, play hard and fast, we’ll be on them,” Crain said. “We try to take advantage of them if they slow it down.”

“That really picks you up as a goalie,” Murray said. “You see them buzzing around, working hard for you and that makes you want to work hard for them.”

La Salle took advantage of a Hendricken penalty, getting a goal from Evan Barbosa. Murray didn’t let the goal get to him and made sure the Rams didn’t get on the board again. Hendricken added two more goals — with Crain getting his hat trick — to seal the win.

“I like to think all the time I’m going to show up and stop them all,” Murray said. “That’s not realistic all the time, but I come out and try to stop as many as I can. It was a great team game.”

La Salle was flustered with the loss. The Rams are still on the short list of title contenders and showed it with how they played in the first period even if they only had one goal to show for it.

The start of the third period wasn’t what they had planned when they spoke in the locker room at the break.

“We wanted to come out and pound heads in,” La Salle’s Tyler Garofalo said. “They buried in their opportunity they got and I’m not going to say it took the wind out of our sails, but if definitely didn’t help when they brought that second one on.”

The weekend doesn’t get easier for La Salle with a game against Prout on Saturday. The Rams are still in good position to earn the No. 3 seed for the playoffs. There are five games left and wins would be ideal, but playing championship-caliber hockey is what La Salle is really chasing.

“What works is going to work. We have to optimize on our opportunities and get down in the dirty area,” Garofalo said. “We have to bring it to teams more. We’re still not throwing our punches all the way, if that makes sense.

“We’re in defense mode. We can lay it on someone if we need to.”

Hendricken is also getting read for the playoffs. The two-time defending state champs know the road is going to be tougher than it was last winter — except this time the Hawks won’t be the favorites.

They’re OK with that. Hendricken has been in tough spots the last two years, only to raise a banner at the end. After the loss to Prout, there was plenty of talk that this might not be the Hawks’ season, but they’re ready to play the role of underdog.

“It’s a character test every year,” Murray said. “Last year, we lost against Warwick and we bounced back and won out the season. This year we’re hoping to repeat that.

“We just want to keep going, keep rolling and the one that matters is the playoffs, so we’ll forget about the last one.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Hendricken takes down La Salle Friday in Division I boys hockey game