LOWELL, Mass. – St. John’s Prep rallied with the goaltender pulled to force overtime then defeated Catholic Conference rival BC High, 2-1, in the second overtime of Tuesday night’s MIAA Division 1 State Tournament game at the Tsongas Center.
The conquest sets up a heavyweight matchup between St. John’s Prep and Xaverian for the Division 1 state championship on Sunday at the TD Garden in Boston. Xaverian made it an all-Catholic Conference final by defeating Arlington, 4-3, in double overtime at Loring Arena.
SJP’s victory was the nightcap on the UMass Lowell campus. In the first game, Canton jumped out to a 6-0 lead and held on for a 6-3 victory over Gloucester in a Division 2 State Tournament semifinal. The Bulldogs and Tewksbury will meet Sunday at the TD Garden in the final game at that level.
The atmosphere in the Tsongas Center for both games was special, something the players from all four teams will remember for years to come. The Gloucester fan section was huge and stayed until the end, despite their team’s misfortune. The SJP fan section going berserk as players celebrated the double overtime goal right in front of them was a sight to behold. There’s nothing like playoff time and it’s great to be back to normal with fans playing such a huge part in the environment of the rink.
St. John’s Prep can’t be denied
For 44 minutes, senior goaltender Jack Burke and the BC High defense kept St. John’s Prep off the board. A goal from junior Luke O’Sullivan had given John Flaherty’s team a 1-0 lead, the identical score BC High had won by in its previous two tournament games against Catholic Memorial and Austin Prep.
With just over a minute to play and trailing by a goal, St. John’s Prep coach Kristian Hanson called timeout. He pulled his goaltender for the extra attacker and 15 seconds later, it paid off. The puck found its way back to junior defenseman Aidan Holland. His seeing eye wrister sailed into the net, beating a screened Burke on the glove side. Will Van Sicklin picked up the assist.
Overtime didn’t settle anything, despite SJP getting a penalty shot after a BC High skater covered the puck in his own crease. However, all the momentum was clearly on the side of St. John’s Prep. Finally, in double overtime, SJP punched its ticket to the TD Garden. A turnover in back of the net resulted in the puck being on the stick of senior winger Tommy Sarni. He fed the puck out front to sophomore center Christian Rosa, who buried it, setting off a wild celebration.
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Kudos to BC High for salvaging the season and taking its fans on a terrific ride through the postseason. After a 3-2 win over Milton in the first round, the team won back-to-back 1-0 games over CM and Austin Prep. Burke’s shutout streak extended well over 135 minutes.
Offense from backend powers Canton
Defensemen Brennen Pecararo and Sean Connolly each scored two goals to pace the Canton offense. Left wing Eddie Ellis and right wing AJ Thomas had the other tallies for the Bulldogs.
Brian Shuman’s team scored three goals in the first three minutes of the game to blow the doors open. Pecararo, a lefty, got the scoring started by coming off the right wing wall after a broken play in transition. He roofed a wrist shot past the Gloucester goaltender for the 1-0 lead.
Shortly thereafter, Connolly scored his first on a shot from the right point. After a Gloucester penalty gave Canton a power play, Connolly slipped down from his position at the point and banged home a feed to the backdoor from Brendan Tourgee.
Ellis and Thomas scored to give the Bulldogs their fourth and fifth goals before Pecararo scored his second of the night to extend the advantage to 6-0. Pecararo, the younger brother of former Maine forward Liam Pecararo, also had an assist.
Freshman Colin Davis picked up the win in net for Canton. While he ended up giving up three goals, he did a good job of keeping an explosive Gloucester offense at bay. For the Fishermen, sophomore Brett Cunningham had a goal and two assists while senior Jack Costanzo and sophomore Joseph Orlando each had a goal and an assist. Sophomore Emerson Marshall collected two helpers, as well.
Costanzo is a fun player to watch at this level as he can skate and juke with the best of them in high school hockey. An `03, there should be plenty of EHL and USPHL organizations clamoring for his services in 2022-23.
Getting back to Canton, Shuman’s team is looking for a third consecutive state title, if you include the co-championship in 2020 once Covid wiped out the scheduled final against Lincoln-Sudbury. In 2019, Canton defeated Tewksbury by a score of 4-2 in the championship game at TD Garden. Will Canton make it three straight or will Tewksbury’s heralded senior class enact revenge for the loss as freshmen?
I’ll have predictions for all four state championship games once we get closer to Sunday.
