Red Raiders rally for comeback win
Get two goals in the last two minutes
No matter what thrills remain over the course of the Lowell High boys hockey team’s season, it will be hard for the Red Raiders to duplicate the magical feel of this most improbable 4-3 victory over Chelmsford Monday night.
Just when it appeared all was lost, the Red Raiders made like Houdini on skates and pulled the ice right out from beneath Chelmsford’s blades to escape with their biggest win of the winter.
Lowell was down by a goal and was called for a penalty with 2:04 left to play in the third period. But Chelmsford was whistled for a penalty with 1:47 remaining. And with the teams skating 4-on-4, Lowell staged a rally that is sure to have a permanent place in Red Raiders’ hockey lore.
Shawn Spring scored the tying goal on a brilliant individual rush with 1:35 remaining and Brendan Demarco potted the game-winner with 25.9 seconds left to play to lift Lowell past Chelmsford in a Merrimack Valley Conference/dual County League cross-over game at the Tsongas Center.
Lowell improved its record to 5-4-2. The Red Raiders are 4-1-2 in their last seven games. It was Lowell’s first win over Chelmsford in boys hockey in nearly 40 years.
Kevin Conley and B. J. Anderson scored one goal each for Lowell, and Jacob Vieira made 32 saves while earning the win in net.
“That was a great win,” said Lowell coach Brian Akashian. “That’s the first time we’ve played them since 1994. And it’s our first win (over Chelmsford) since 1981. So that was a really good effort by our team.
“Shawn Spring getting the tying goal, and then Brendan getting the gamewinner, that was just a great way to do it. It was just two good hockey players, making two good individual efforts to score goals.”
Demarco is a big-time goal scorer and this talented Red Raider senior forward couldn’t have picked a more opportune time to hit the back of the net with a shot.
“That goal felt real good,” said Demarco. “It definitely was a big one. I just put the shot on net. I don’t even know how it went in. But I’m glad it did.
“It’s a great comeback win for us. We really needed it. Our goalie played good. It was just a great overall win. … We all stepped up and made some big plays. This win gives us a lot of momentum. Coach got a little emotional in the postgame speech. He was really happy we came back and won. I’m glad we did it for him.”
Chelmsford took a 3-2 lead into the third period. Ben Pitts snapped a 2-2 tie when he potted a powerplay goal with 6:58 left to play in the second period. Matt Miner and James Hill assisted on Pitts’ goal. The Lions carried the play for long stretches of the third period, outshooting Lowell, 16-10, over the final 15 minutes. But Vieira made several key stops to prevent Chelmsford from adding to its lead.
“( Vieira) has been great,” said Akashian. “He made some big saves when he had to. It was a real good effort by him. He just keeps getting better and better.”
Chelmsford (2-7-1) limited Lowell’s scoring opportunities for much of the third period, but couldn’t seal the deal on the win.
“It’s tough,” said Chelmsford coach Kevin Leonard. “I mean any game you are up a goal with two minutes to play and are on the power play is tough to lose. I feel there were some tough calls (against us late in the game). But ultimately it’s up to us to keep the puck out of our net. All their goals today were from breakdowns in our Dzone.
“It would have been nice to have a couple more goals, especially with some of the Grade-a scoring chances we had (during the game). This is a tough one to swallow at the end. But we can’t make excuses. We have to be able to execute what we set out to do. Unfortunately, they outplayed us that last two minutes. We outplayed them for 43 minutes. They outplayed us for two.”
Lowell took a 1- 0 lead with a 11:51 to play in the first period as Conley snapped home a goal with a nifty shot from between the circles. Owen Goulette and Cam Trull assisted on Conley’s goal.
Chelmsford evened the scored, 1-1, when Christian Gastonguay scored with assists from Sean Stackpole and Mike Regan.
The Red Raiders went back in front, 2-1, with 10:14 left in the opening period as Anderson split the Lions’ defense and finished off a great rush by potting an unassisted goal.
The Lions tied the score, 2-2, when Owen Flanagan scored off a pass from Donovan Ryan with 5:02 to play in the first period.
Chelmsford goalie Ben Finney made 19 saves.