Friday afternoon saw division rivals Mother Teresa and St. Andre Bessette do battle at Medway Arena. The two Catholic high schools entered this match up side by side in the standings with SAB having a 9-6 lead in points.
Once the puck dropped, the Spartans dominated and did not look like a team who trailed their opponent in the standings. Logan Mastrandrea and Ethan Milne would both score to put MTS ahead 2-0 before the game was even four minutes old.
St. Andre Bessette would have their chances to answer. Bulldogs forward Carson Graham tried batting in a rebound out of the air with no luck and he also missed on a breakaway during the first period.
Then the bad luck would shift towards the officiating.
The linesman collided with an MTS player and ended up falling and hitting his head and shoulder hard off of the ice. He would leave the game under his own power, but had to go to the hospital.
Only one referee and a lineman officiate each high school game; so for this contest to continue someone would have to step in for the injured linesman.
Cue SAB coach Michael Reati who stepped up and put on the stripes to save the day.
Reati laces up his skates before coming in to work the lines.
“He was done and without two officials we can’t play. So I offered to jump on and both sides were cool with that and I took over” said Reati, who had played hockey and reffed when he was younger. “It was alright. Took a little while to get used to it, knowing the numbers when players scored was always a challenge. But I mean, all the other rules were pretty straightforward stuff that you grow up doing so nothing really changed” was the coach-turned-linesman’s response to how he feel he performed.
Michael Reati drops the puck for the first time in years after coming in from behind the bench.
MTS would continue to score in bunches throughout this game. They would go on to beat the St. Andre Bessette Bulldogs 7-2. Acquiring two points Friday puts the Spartans one point back of SAB for 6th place in the London District boys hockey standings. “It was a good effort all around. We know they’ve beaten us in the past so we really wanted to go in there and prove something today and we did that” said Spartans Captain Gabe Spagnuolo on what the victory meant to his team.
Mother Teresa is back on the ice next on Tuesday January 16th versus John Paul II.
