Marauders are known for taking whatever they want and being ruthless in the process.
The St. Joe’s Marauders did just that as they stormed into the HarborCenter and ruthlessly defeated the Bishop Timon-St. Jude Tigers 8-0 in the Monsignor Martin hockey semifinals Monday night.
Senior Max Wopperer led the charge two goals and four points as a total of 15 players made their way on the scoresheet.
They wanted to make sure that Shane Scheeler, who had fought his way back from a bad injury involving the tendons and arteries in his arm early in the season, took part in the pillaging upon making his return to the ice. He did that by assisting on the eighth goal.
Fast start: Patrick Gilbert blasted one in to get St. Joe’s on the board first just over a minute into the game.
The setup: Will Redding put the shot top shelf over the goalie’s glove hand to make it 2-0 Marauders early in the second.
Linemate Adam Glica made the play sending a beautiful pass from the corner to Redding who was open in front of the net.
That’s three: Wopperer shot the puck in from the top of the circle to give St. Joe’s the three-goal lead.
Not belonging: Mysterious debris fell out of nowhere onto the ice just a few minutes after the third goal. Luckily, the play was on the other side of the ice and no one was hurt.
The flip: From behind the net Wopperer, found Jayden Baldinelli who flipped the puck over the left pad of goalie for the fourth Marauder goal.
Didn’t see it: David Matthew grabbed a rebound off and fired it past the goalie with 49.1 seconds left in the second period for the 5-0 lead.
Touchdown and Extra Point: The Marauders scored their sixth and seventh goals just 14 seconds apart in the third.
St. Joe’s took advantage of the power play as Gilbert sent a pass to CJ Goss who’s shot from the point went through.
Jimmy Grable scored off a pass from Niko Pavicich on a 2-on-1 rush.
One more for good measure: Wopperer scored his second goal to cap of the Marauder pillaging.
DE-fense: Marauder goalie Ben Weppner had light work as his defense only let the Tigers take 11 shots in the entire game.
Staying out of the box: St. Joe’s only took one penalty all game. It was an elbowing call to Ethan Louisos in the early parts of the third period.
Records: St. Joe’s was 10-4-2-0 in Federation play and 2-1-1 in Catholic school play. Timon was 4-10-2 in the Fed play and 1-1-1 in the Catholic school games.
This year’s acquaintances: The Marauders defeated Bishop Timon 5-1 in both of the meetings between the two teams this year. They opened the season on Nov. 27 and played again on Jan. 21.
Another trip to the bank: St. Joe’s makes it sixth-straight Super Monday appearance. They will not face archrival Canisius for the first time in four years.
Newcomers to the block: St. Mary’s of Lancaster pulled off a major upset in the first semifinal game defeating top seed Canisius 4-0. It’s the Lancers first trip to the finals.
Next: St. Joe’s will face St. Mary’s of Lancaster in the Niagara Cup at 8:30 p.m. as part of Super Monday at the KeyBank Center.