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Kohen hat trick trips up St. Rita
St. Rita goaltender Marty Napleton bobbles the puck in the first period against Fenwick. | Michael Jarecki~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: February 11, 2013 8:00PM
CHICAGO — Ben Kohen always looks forward to playing against arch-rvial St. Rita.
It’s easy to see why.
Kohen scored a hat trick, his second of the year against the Mustangs, to account for all of the scoring Saturday as Fenwick came away with a 3-0 victory at the Hockey City Classic at Soldier Field.
“The only feeling better than doing this here is if I could do it in the Kennedy Cup finals or the state finals,’’ Kohen said. “I think we will probably see them again down the road.’’
The No. 8 Mustangs (22-10-4) have won the last five Kennedy Cups, which determine the Catholic League champion, but have a very young team this year. Fenwick is the favorite to break that streak and the No. 4 Friars (34-10-5) have beaten the Mustangs in three of the four contests played between the two teams this season.
“We don’t want to make it easy on them, that is the main thing,’’ Fenwick coach Kurt Kabat said. “Ben is a strong and powerful kid who is capable of having a big game and he certainly did tonight.’’
Kohen scored a goal in each period. His first came from the right circle as he fired a wrist shot past Mustangs’ goalie Marty Napleton. The second came out front on a nice feed from Paul O’Toole as Kohen beat Napleton to the glove side.
Kohen then finished the hat trick with 1:47 left as he tipped in a perfect feed from Joey Scorpio. He was mobbed by his teammates but only had one hat thrown on the ice, by Fenwick’s equipment manager.
“What a great pass by Joey,’’ Kohen said. “He put the puck right there for me.’’
The shutout was split between Zach Danna and Pino Barker, who worked the final two periods. Barker stopped 21 shots, including some close calls in the third period when the Mustangs dominated play by outshooting the Friars 12-2.
“A few of those shots I didn’t think that I got them,’’ Barker said. “It was so exciting playing here. I’ve never done anything like that before.’’
