CC, Arlington hit Super final
BOYS HOCKEY
Go to the net and good things will happen. It’s a simple hockey adage preached by coaches at all levels, and last night it proved true for Central Catholic.
Thomas Manty poked a loose puck in the crease into the net at 1:35 of overtime to give the Raiders a 1-0 win over BC High in the Super Eight semifinals at the Tsongas Center in Lowell.
Central Catholic (17-5-3) advances to the Super Eight final against Arlington on Sunday at the Garden.
“I just dove in,” Manty said. “I had to put that in. I dove in, it happened to go in and the next thing I knew I was in the fan section.”
Sophomore defenseman Steven Birch started the play by firing a shot from the right point. Manty was well-positioned in front, deflected the shot and followed up by lunging forward to put the rebound home.
The game was scoreless heading into overtime, but not due to lack of chances. BC High (16-4-4) had 31 shots, but couldn’t find a way to beat Central Catholic goaltender Matthew Pasquale, who was at his best in the third period with 14 saves.
“He was unbelievable,” Raiders coach Kim Brandvold said. “He made it look easy. He’s been exceptional so far, and hopefully it keeps going because then we’ve got a good chance.”
Arlington 2, Malden Catholic 1 — In the other semifinal at Tsongas, the fourth-seeded Spy Ponders (21-2-2) went to doubleovertime to knock off the top-ranked Lancers (15-53), who had won five of the last six Super Eight titles,.
Jeff MacDonald floated a pass to Kevin Ouellette, who pulled the puck from the left post to his backhand before slipping it through the five-hole just 36 seconds into the 3-on-3 second OT.
“I just hopped on the ice, I saw Mac breaking into the zone, he made a great pass, I got a bit of a lucky bounce,” Oullette said. “I was going to go far side and wrap it around but I saw him open his legs so I just tucked it in.”
Said Arlington coach John Messuri: “Jeff made a great play and Kevin did what Kevin does, he finished.”
Malden Catholic tied the game 2:17 into the third period, when Alex Nazarian collected the loose change on a scramble in the Arlington crease and deposited it to make it 1-1.
“I thought we started playing better and coming at them harder after the game-tying goal,” Messuri said. “Sometimes you end up falling back on your heels when you give up a goal, I think we did a good job responding tonight.”
Arlington opened the scoring when Peter Scheschareg found Mick Curran in the slot for a snapshot that broke through the glove of a sprawling Brian Cannata with just 43 seconds remaining in the first.
Jack Pinard came up huge time and time again for the Spy Ponders, turning aside 33 shots.
For Arlington, the win marks the first time the program will go to the Super Eight final in the tournament’s current format.
“MC is the current best program, (Catholic Memorial) had a run, but we’ve been the best program over 100 years,” Messuri said with a confident smile. “There’s only one Arlington, we’re the Notre Dame of this whole thing. . . . We’re just a public school but in over 100 years nobody has had a run like us.”
Old Rochester/Fairhaven 5, Lowell 1 — A hat trick by Noah Strawn led the Bulldogs (24-3) past the Raiders (15-10) in the Division 3 state semifinal at Harvard.
“He’s an elite level talent,” said Bulldogs coach Eric Labonte. “I’ve said all season, we’re going to have a good team without Noah, but with him we’re going to the TD Garden.”
After five shot attempts in the opening five minutes, Landon Goguen dished a shot into the top of the net to put the Bulldogs up 1-0. Old Rochester/Fairhaven kept Red Raiders goaltender Patrick Cote busy in the first period, forcing him to make 10 of his 36 saves on the night.
Just 45 seconds into the second period, Strawn scored to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead, but Lowell answered on a power play four minutes later. Connor Barter’s slapper from his knees got the Red Raiders on the board.
Lowell couldn’t convert two third-period power plays. With 5:06 remaining, Strawn slid in his second goal of the game put ORF up by two. Sam Henrie added a power-play goal with 2:32 left and Strawn added his 47th of the season with 14 seconds left to put the game away.