Dragons scorch Tigers
Latin wins City League title in decisive fashion
While Latin Academy came into Tuesday night’s Boston City League boys hockey championship as a clear favorite for a fifth consecutive title, there was no taking O’Bryant lightly, considering the slim two-goal margin in the Dragons ‘regular season win.
After a bit of a frustrating start, Latin Academy eventually got rolling, getting two goals apiece from Brendan Butler and Aidan Farley in an 8-0 win at Matthews Arena that keeps the crown with the Dragons, now 11-6-2 with one game left before the Division 3 North tournament.
“We tell the kids any time you are playing for a championship you obviously want to play to win and you want to continue to build the program,” said Latin Academy coach Patrick Mudie. “The more attention you get to the program, the more kids come, and the better you are in the long run.”
The loss marks the final BCL game on the Tigers’ bench for O’Bryant coach Joe Natola, whose 15-year tenure will not be measured in wins and losses but the by amount of kids he was able to provide a positive experience for in a difficult hockey environment.
“It’s been a challenge all 15 years, making sure I had enough players, making sure I had enough quality players, but it was very rewarding to give these kids an outlet to play,” said Natola. “It’s been fun, but you have to know when to hang them up, and it’s time to hang them up.”
Goalie Dylan Stegemann tried to keep O’Bryant (3-16) in it early, making 20 of his 33 saves in the first period, the lone tally coming from Butler 1:24 in.
But a bad break opened the floodgates in a whistlefilled second — eight penalties were called after the Dragons began it on a power play — as a Farley shot deflected off a skate in front and found the five-hole just 36 seconds into the period
Eamon Vraibel made it 3-0 a little over a minute later, and the Dragons struck twice in seven seconds late in the stanza for a 5-0 edge, first Farley, then Butler.
Latin Academy got three more in the third off backup goalie Andy Xie, who acquitted himself well with nine saves after being called on for his first varsity duty when Stegemann got a 10minute misconduct, with Cam Guerard, Ryan Farnham and Liam Smith rounding out the scoring.
Andrew Sahatjian made 20 saves to secure the shutout for Latin Academy.