Putting on the Vianney sweater means something to Marco Boccardi that few can understand.
The Boccardi name is a legacy within the Vianney hockey program. Marco’s father, Mario, was the goalie on Vianney’s 1996 state championship team and his cousins and older brother, Vinny, were also part of state championship teams.
Marco is the last of the group to wear the black and gold.
“It’s awesome,” Marco said. “Vianney has always been a staple of our family. I mean, it’s always been like just the place to go if you’re a Boccardi.”
Vianney coach Kevin McGlynn has coached all of the Boccardis, including Mario.
“I remember him running around a little kid, you know, with the Vianney stuff on,” McGlynn said of Marco. “And I was lucky enough to have him as a 10-year-old and you could see his skill back then.”
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Marco is looking for something his father, brother and cousins have — a Mid-States Club Hockey Association state championship.
“They definitely give advice,” Boccardi said. “They’re super supportive. They want me to win one so bad.”
That desire to win isn’t just a Boccardi thing. It’s a desire shared among the team’s 14 seniors.
“We’ve been working for it for four years,” Vianney captain Quinn Adamec said. “We’ve had good teams, but we just haven’t made it all the way and win championships. So, we really just want to get one.”
Vianney showed last year that it has the talent to make a run as a junior-heavy roster made it all the way to the Challenge Cup semifinals.
With that group returning, the expectations for this season are high.
“We’re going to have a tough challenge in the first round, anything can happen,” McGlynn said. “And you know, the team with the hot goalie, just like last year, De Smet’s goalie got hot at the right time. And you know, they made it through. You know, we tied and lost by a goal to them in the semis, and then they took care of business in the finals.”
The Golden Griffins (8-5-5, 21 points) close the regular season with a pair of games this weekend — at 8:50 p.m. Friday against CBC (7-6-5) at Centene Ice and at 8:30 p.m. Saturday against Parkway West (14-2-2) at Affton Rink.
Vianney has a goalie in Chase Vogelgesang who can get hot and carry a team in the postseason. Vogelgesang is 8-2-4 with a 1.28 goals against and a .949 save percentage.
“Less than two goals a game, that’s pretty strong,” McGlynn said.
Adamec, Logan Fiala and Blake Arias anchor a stingy defense that allows just 1.72 goals a game.
Chase Trompeter (15 goals, 8 assists), Jackson Stocker (11 goals, 4 assists), Matthew Muenz (2 goals, 11 assists) and Boccardi (2 goals, 8 assists) lead a versatile offense. That group could get back Cooper Palazzolo, who was a key cog in last year’s run to the semifinals, from a hand injury that has sidelined him for the majority of the season.
“We’ve been working on our depth all year,” McGlynn said. “You know, we get everybody healthy, we’ll see.”
Mid-States’ new playoff format will test that depth.
The top eight teams make the Challenge Cup playoffs and they will play a best-of-three format in the first two rounds before the championship game February 28. Vianney is within a group of four teams separated by a few points heading into the final weekend of the season, meaning the Golden Griffins could be seeded anywhere from No. 2 to No. 5.
As part of an agreement with Missouri Hockey, the Challenge Cup playoffs won’t begin until February 18, which is 23 days after the regular season ends. The break allows high level players to finish their club campaigns and avoid conflicts with the Mid-States postseason.
“It helps our team a lot, because we have a lot of players from ‘08 Blues and ‘06 Blues, and then we have a lot of Affton kids,” Adamec said. “So, it’s kind of hard to all play together as a team during the regular season, because not all our guys will be there, but in the postseason we’ll have all of our guys every game, which helps tremendously.”
The downside is the layoff will test every team’s chemistry. Who can knock off any potential rust the fastest could be the difference between a quick exit or a long run.
“We’re going to have to be disciplined, that’s for sure,” McGlynn said. “Cut back on the mistakes, stay out of the penalty box, be ready to play at a high level and shake off any cobwebs.”
No matter where Vianney is seeded, it will enter the postseason with plenty of confidence.
While De Smet, the two-time defending Challenge Cup champion, presumably will enter as the No. 1 seed, the Golden Griffins have beaten the Spartans in two of their three regular season meetings.
“It’s been a huge confidence booster in our room, for our team,” Boccardi said. “De Smet’s obviously great, and we’re just going to focus on our team, and if we come up against them in the playoffs, we’re going to be ready for sure.”
While the success against the defending state champion certainly provides a boost, this team had high expectations before the puck was even dropped this season.
“Before the season even started, at the end of one of our first practices, I mean just coming off the ice, everyone’s just talking, having a great time,” Adamec said. “The locker room is great. No one’s ever mad at each other, or anything like that.”
Last year’s run to the final four has served as motivation, especially for Vianney’s returners. Boccardi said they don’t want to experience the feeling they had skating off the ice after being eliminated in the semifinals.
“We just need to play our game, stick to our game, and have some confidence,” Boccardi said. “We’re one of the best, most skilled teams in the league. We just have to believe that day in and day out, and play our game, and I think we’ll be good.”