CANTON – Phenom goalie Evelyn Lacey left big skates to fill on the Archbishop Williams girls hockey team when she transferred after last year.

In the Bishops’ season opener Saturday night, though, junior Bella Buonopane laced them up for a perfect fit.

By stopping all 16 shots she faced in a frantic third period, in which No. 5 Archbishop Williams (1-0) needed to kill three separate penalties, Buonopane (32 saves) paired with a gritty defense and two first-period goals to stave off No. 6 Bishop Feehan for a 2-1 Catholic Central League win in her first career varsity start.

One of those saves looked like the puck snuck in for the game-tying goal in the closing minutes, but officials ruled the play over before it crossed the line, and the Bishops eventually held on despite an onslaught of pressure.

“It was kind of stressful because last year we had Evelyn Lacey and she was a beast,” Buonopane said. “But I know I can play, I’ve been playing for a few years. So I feel like I just played with confidence and it just went my way. And I feel like my team stepped up when they needed to.”

It wasn’t the prettiest of victories to kick off a title-hopeful campaign – committing five penalties, failing to convert 5-on-3 advantages in the first and second periods, and losing the shot battle, 33-17. But great teams find a way, and the young Bishops – with 18 underclassmen – passed their first test.

The Shamrocks (0-1) showed off their experienced attack right away by producing four shots in the opening minute and by drawing a penalty just 2:15 into the game. Alison Stiles orchestrated an opportunity by sending a pass back to Chloe Bryda at the point, then positioned herself to redirect Bryda’s shot for a goal and an early, 1-0 lead.

Archbishop Williams struggled to generate many clean chances all night, but utilized its elite speed in response to quickly flip the momentum back in its favor. Eight-grader McKenzie Lima-Tower skated to a breakaway goal for a 1-1 tie less than five minutes in, and junior Caroline Batchelder needed just 42 seconds afterward to take the lead on her own breakaway.

“Team speed is great at this level,” said Bishops head coach Doug Nolan. “Hockey’s a game of mistakes. It’s not about the mistakes you make, it’s about how you respond, and I think some of those younger players, they responded well and we’re pretty happy to have them.”

From there, it was a battle between defenses.

The Bishops couldn’t get many shots on net during any of the four advantages they drew in the first two periods, but Fallon Smith (15 saves) took care of whatever got through. The Shamrocks were mostly limited in the second period in the meantime, with just seven shots during an evenly-matched frame.

It wasn’t until the third period that any offensive action heated up again, with Bishop Feehan drawing three penalties – including a five-minute major over the last 2:59 of play. But Buonopane was lights-out with the exception of the near goal that was called off, and Nolan was impressed with the grittiness of the team to find a way through.

“(Bishop Feehan) probably deserved to win that game, our goalie played awesome (and) we had some character play from some of our role players that killed penalties to end the game – Catherine Lacey, Kate O’Toole,” he said. “To beat a good team like that with your best players not going, it says a lot about the character. … It’s pretty encouraging for us as coaches.”

“It’s probably going to boost our confidence,” Buonopane added. “If we played not our best but we still won against a good team, imagine what we can do when we play our best.”