By TERRY NAU

Sports editor

WOONSOCKET – Mount St. Charles and Bishop Hendricken will meet at Adelard Arena for the second time in eight days on Saturday night. Last Friday’s first meeting of the two best teams in the state went in favor of the Mount by a 6-4 margin. A sellout crowd watched that game and a similar audience is expected for Round 2 this weekend.
“I hope so,” Mount co-coach Dave Belisle admitted on Thursday afternoon, when asked about the chances for another sellout (estimated between 600 and 800 people). “This is great hockey between two programs that are always trying to better themselves by playing good hockey teams from outside the state. Hendricken is a top program that is very similar to us in that they are always trying to represent Rhode Island in the best way we can.”
Last week’s game provided both teams a better idea of how to attack one another. The two teams traded goals in a back-and-forth contest that was decided in the third period when Mount pushed across the final three goals after Hendricken had taken a 3-2 lead on two goals by Nick Mattiello.
Hendricken’s No. 1 line scored three of its four goals in the contest. Mount’s top line of Kyle Beauchamp, Trevor Plante and Tim Coffey scored the game’s final three goals. Beauchamp scored one goal and assisted on three others. Defenseman John Lace scored a goal on a setup by Beauchamp while Evan Hoffman added an unassisted tally.
Second-liner Brian Campbell also knocked in a goal with assists going to linemates Scott Potter and Zach Samborsky.
“Our scoring is more balanced, I think,” Belisle declared. “We don’t have anybody in the top five scorers in the state and maybe only two in the top 10. We don’t rely on just one line.”
Having home-ice advantage will allow Belisle the chance to match his better defenders against Hendricken’s top line, which is headed by Mattiello, Matt Metcalf and Noel Acciari.
“We’d like to have our top defenseman on the ice against their best line,” the coach said. “I’ll probably get Shane Dunphy out there against their top line as often as possible. Being the home team, we should be able to do that. I don’t think we need to send one particular line out there to stop Hendricken’s top line. I have confidence in all three of our lines.”
Metcalf is Hendricken’s leading scorer with 14 goals and 17 assists in 10 league games. Acciari has 16 goals  and 13 assists while Mattiello has provided 9 goals and 3 assists thus far. The Hawks are 9-1 in Division I while Mount is 8-0 thus far.
Mount’s scoring balance is reflected in its statistics. Coffey leads the team in scoring against Rhode Island opponents, compiling 8 goals and 8 assists in 8 games. Beauchamp has 4 goals and 11 assists. Trevor Plante is tied for third in team scoring with Tim Doyle. Both have accumulated 12 points so far, Plante with 7 goals and Doyle with 5.
Evan Hoffman has 8 goals and 2 assists while Zach Samborsky is listed for 7 goals and 2 assists. Brian Campbell also has 9 points, with 5 goals and 4 assists. The Mounties have 11 players with 6 points or more in their 8 league games.
Hendricken, through 10 league games, has five players in double figures, scoring-wise, and one more with 9 points. The Hawks have scored 65 goals in 10 games to 63 for Mount in 8 games. Those statistics are skewed, of course, by the one-sided routs both teams have scored against lesser opponents.
Mount goalie Jason SanAntonio has allowed 1 goal per game in six league games. He made 14 saves against Hendricken while giving up 4 goals. The Mounties outshot the Hawks by a 34-18 margin in their first encounter.
The only numbers that really count between these two teams are the stats they compile head-to-head. And right now that means 6 goals for Mount and 4 for Hendricken. Whether the scoring will be as high on Saturday night is open for conjecture as both teams will make changes, based on what they saw from films of the first game.
The goaltenders should be sharper, too.
 “They’re certainly an outstanding hockey team,” Belisle said, turning his thoughts back to Hendricken. “We’ve got our work cut out for us if we want to beat them.”