Lowell caps off fast rise to top
NORTH BILLERICA — Nine seconds was all Lowell needed to go ahead for good in the Division 3 North final.
Freshman Brendan DeMarco scored right off the opening faceoff to give the Red Raiders an instant lead over Latin Academy, and Patrick Cote made 34 saves to lead Lowell to a 4-1 win last night at Chelmsford Forum.
“In games like this, you don’t want to be chasing the score,” Red Raiders coach Brian Akashian said. “To get up one gives you a little breathing room.”
The ninth-seeded Red Raiders (15-9-0) completed their upstart run through the North bracket and will advance to the Division 3 state semifinal against South champion Old Rochester/Fairhaven.
“It’s good for the program,” Akashian said. “It’s good to get us back on the map. Hopefully we can keep it going.”
Lowell’s top line of De- Marco (goal, two assists), Thomas Hassett (goal, assist) and Ben Asselin (two goals, assist) was dynamic early in the game. The trio each scored an early goal to help the Red Raiders race out to a 3-0 lead just over two minutes into the second period.
“We were moving the puck well, DeMarco said. “We’ve been playing together for a lot of years now so it’s just chemistry.”
Cote took control from there. The sophomore made 25 saves in the second and third periods and got stronger as the game went along, giving up few rebounds and directing whatever pucks he couldn’t not control away from dangerous areas.
“He’s an excellent goalie,” Akashian said. “He does get better the more pucks he sees. He’s backboned us to this this and hopefully will further.”
Ryan Lonergan scored to get Latin Academy (15-3-5) on the board late in the second period, but it was too little, too late for the Dragons.
Latin had a flurry of chances on the power play early in the third, but Cote turned them all aside and Asselin sealed the deal with an empty-net goal.