WESTBOROUGH – The Shrewsbury Colonials boys hockey team doesn’t like to play from behind.
And luckily, in an afternoon matchup against the league-rival Chelmsford Lions on Monday, the team didn’t have to. The Colonials got ahead early and never relinquished the lead, leaving NorthStar Ice Sports with an assertive 4-1 victory.
“We’re not built to chase. We want to play deep in the opponent’s zone, force them to make mistakes and use our speed. We’re not the biggest team, but we’re quick and we’re fast. We’re not really built when people start leaning on us. That’s fine; we don’t want to play that way anyway. It’s not so much the lead, it’s getting off to a quick start,” said Shrewsbury Head Coach Richard Grant.
Shrewsbury’s Nick McManus – assisted by Cam Moore and Matt McDonough – opened the scoring five minutes into the action, putting the Colonials ahead 1-0. Roughly eight minutes later, McManus struck again, and his power-play goal – assisted by Shawn Salt and Moore – put the Colonials ahead 2-0 as the first period ended.
“[McManus] is one of our most talented players when he plays the right way. He’s got good hands, he’s got a good head for the game… That’s probably the fastest I’ve seen him skate all year… Now, he’s got to bring it all the time. I think it comes with age, but I’m really happy with how he played tonight,” Grant said.
The Colonials would add two more goals: five minutes into the second period, Salt put Shrewsbury ahead 3-0, and two minutes later, Anthony Nuzzolilo made it 4-0. Shrewsbury outshot Chelmsford 36-9 over the course of the game.
Shrewsbury didn’t look as dominant in the third period – allowing Chelmsford to score just 30 seconds into the action – but the team did enough to stay ahead. Grant said that the Colonials were “much better” than their performance on Saturday against Billerica. Although the teams tied in that matchup, Shrewsbury fell behind early and didn’t play “[their] game.”
“When we skate, we’re a very, very talented hockey team. When we play like we did in the third period, kind of get physical, that’s not really how we play. I was really happy with how we played in the first and second period,” he said.
The Colonials (7-2-1) have been dominant recently, and haven’t lost in 2024.
On Jan. 20, the team will travel to Salem to face Central Catholic High School, who defeated the Colonials earlier in the season.
