Hanifan puts up brick wall, leads Reading by Braintree
Braintree had the momentum, the shots on net advantage, and just forgot one thing.
No.14 Reading upended the No. 11 Wamps, 1-0, as junior goaltender Chris Hanifan posted his second shutout of the Division 1 tournament with 25 saves for the Rockets at a jam-packed Zapustas Ice Arena. Braintree (14-7-2) held a 25-15 shot advantage in the end but could not find the back of the net as the Rockets advanced to the Final Four.
Reading (14-7-1) will face Xaverian for the right to advance to the state finals.
The lone goal came in the opening minutes of the third period as Matty Fichera took a gorgeous cross ice pass from Mark Boyle at 1:30 after two scoreless periods of hockey.
The faceoff was the second of the period in the Rockets’ end and after Fichera fumbled the faceoff clear, he found Laz Giardina and the first line for head coach Mark Doherty was off to the races. Giardina fed Boyle racing in the neutral zone as Fichera filled in the left slot.
Fichera took the crossice pass as he slid on his backside for the gamewinner to send the rowdy Rockets faithful into a frenzy.
“We made a great rush far side to Boyle, Laz was crashing net and I was wide, right to me, beautiful pass by Boyle,” said Fichera. “Awesome being the 14th seed and being in the top four right now.”
Braintree lost 18 players from its Elite Eight roster last season when it lost 3-2 to eventual 2021-22 state champion St. John’s Prep. Head coach David Fasano wasn’t thrilled with the loss for his Bay State League champions for the second year in a row in the final eight, but put things in perspective.
“Not too many people thought we were going to be back (to the Elite Eight) in January when we were 4-3-1. So, I give kudos to our seniors, our leaders, our captains, and our assistant captains,” said Fasano. “We made some personnel changes, lost our starting goalie the first week of the season, so it’s been a successful season.”
Braintree defeated the Rockets 4-2 back in February but after being pulled in a game down in Falmouth along with the loss in Canton, Hanifan has righted the Rockets’ ship just in time with outstanding play in net for the state tournament run and Reading now has a chance at a D1 state finals appearance.
“Things weren’t going great, things kind of culminated in Falmouth, so after that he’s gotten some good guidance. Quite frankly — he’s worked himself out of it with hard work, competing, because he is a good goalie,” said Doherty, who is in his 14th season with the Rockets. “We persevered, we do have a lot of seniors, and it does help when you go to difficult environments.”
In reference to the outstanding defense of the Rockets, who have only allowed one goal in three state tournament games, Doherty feels like this team is ready to roll into the Final Four.
“Again, we have a lot of seniors back there, but I’d like them to play even better though,” joked Doherty. “They … are strong, they can move people, and they generally transition pucks pretty good, So, combined with Hanifan, we are in pretty good shape.”