Josh Iby’s last-minute goal gives Pope Francis first Div. 1 state title
Cardinals down Xaverian 3-2
Josh Iby’s trusty skating may not have held up amid a celebratory dashturned-slide toward the Pope Francis student section Sunday afternoon, but in the biggest moment of his career just seconds prior, his trusty stick most certainly did.
With just 25.6 seconds left to go in a tied Div. 1 state final matchup at TD Garden, Iby’s finish at the post separated the No. 4 Cardinals enough from No. 7 Xaverian to secure the state title via a 3-2 win. The turtle-shell slide toward the glass right after only added to the emotion and personality that poured from that corner of the ice, all but finishing off a title game the program never got to play back in a co-championship, 2019-2020 season.
Xaverian’s Cole Pouliot-Porter (28 saves) delivered a title-worthy performance in net opposite another quality game from Nick Ritchie (16 saves), but it wasn’t enough to prevent Iby from scoring two goals en route to the championship. It was a thrilling ending suited for a thrilling game, adding to a storybook run.
“(My heart’s good) I mean it’s our fourth straight one-goal game, they just keep finding a different way to win it seems like every game,” said Pope Francis head coach Brian Foley. “It was great to see Josh, as a senior, (get the winner). … I think Josh is our undisputed leader, our top player.
“When he turns it on, he’s just a handful. To see him score those two goals in his last game was great.”
Xaverian showed off plenty of hunger in its return to this stage throughout, twice grabbing the lead against Pope Francis a year after losing the title game to St. John’s Prep. Jackson Morse found Devin Gosciak in the first period on a well-timed 2-on-1 pass for a tap-in, and Sean Connolly followed his own shot off the boards for a shorthanded goal in the second while killing a double-minor. PouliotPorter had moments of brilliance after each one, even diving pipe-to-pipe in a frenzy he somehow exited unscathed.
Each time Xaverian jumped ahead, though, Pope Francis eventually bounced right back.
First it was Iby, taking advantage of a Hawks penalty by sniping the 1-1 tie less than two minutes after Xaverian took the lead. Ritchie’s save on a Joe DiMartino penalty shot early in the second period wasn’t enough to stave off the Hawks, but Ryan O’Leary had his back by finishing off Nick Petkovich’s pretty pass across the slot for the 2-2 tie with 2:39 left in the frame.
“They grinded through it,” Foley said. “Going into the third period, I didn’t think we had played our best. At that point, a 15-minute hockey game, I was feeling that the kids were going to respond to that moment and they did.”
Teams traded fruitless scoring opportunities all the way through the third, up until the magic that developed in the final minute. Iby’s dump-off gave Mossy Kearney space down the slot, but the defense collapsed on him to prevent a scoring lane. His quick pass across Pouliot-Porter found Iby perfectly at the right post, and his shot just barely went past the goalie’s out-stretched kick.
“It’s a feeling I’ve never felt before, it was incredible,” Iby said. “I was out there playing with just everything I had, a lot of emotion. I knew we could win, the only thing stopping us was us. … We didn’t just win it for us here today, we won it for that (2020 team) a couple years before us.”