No. 18 seed Arlington Catholic, Clair keep advancing onward

No. 18 Arlington Catholic asked a lot of goaltender Patrick Clair in its Division 1 boys hockey quarterfinal matchup against No. 10 Marshfield.

Clair was tasked with holding off significant pressure from the Rams in two overtimes and five rounds of a shootout. In the end, this led the Cougars to a 3-2 victory and a date with Winchester in the state semifinals.

“You just have to stay calm, cool and collected,” Clair said. “That’s what we all did as a team. We came together in overtime, battled through it and in the shootout we came through.”

Head coach Curt Colarullo said the win showed how his team has improved over the season.

“It’s amazing to get to this point coming from the 18 seed,” Colarullo said. “This team has been through a ton of adversity this season. They are playing as a team, playing as a family and playing for each other. That’s great to see and we are playing our best hockey at this point in the season.”

Marshfield opened up the scoring in the first period when Cam McGettrick fired a short side snipe after an offensive zone draw to make it 1-0. Minutes later, Arlington Catholic freshman Jake Pandolfo crashed the net hard and fired home a loose puck to even the score.

There would not be any additional scoring until the third period, when Rams forward Tommy Carroll tipped in a Michael Bekerian shot to take a 2-1 lead. This would hold deep into the third period, and Colarullo called a timeout with 1:18 left before an offensive zone draw. This would lead to a decision to pull the goalie.

“I spent about 20 minutes on a six-on-five faceoff yesterday,” Colarusso said. “I called them over and I said, ‘Boys, you did the play all day yesterday. You know what you’re doing, go and do it.’ ”

Five seconds later, eighth-grader Ayden Giardina tied it up with a rebound goal.

Nothing could be solved in two overtimes and a shootout was needed. Each side got a goal on the second shot, but Josh Tranchina pocketed the crucial second goal on the Cougars’ fourth shot.

“Coach told me to shoot, don’t stickhandle,” Tranchina said. “This summer, I worked on it with (hockey coach) Rob Wright and he taught me how to score. I listened to him and succeeded.”

Clair would deny the next shooter as the Cougars began to celebrate. This was premature, however, as there was one more round remaining. When Clair would make the final stop, he said it was worth the early excitement.

“Everyone was fired up,” Clair said. “When that is taken from you, it makes you want it more. It fired the boys up and we got it done.”