MC Headed to Super 8 Title Game at the Garden

All the gaudy statistics hung by its all-world first line this season, all the plaudits, all the accolades, and an entire season spent as the consensus best hockey team in Massachusetts. None of it means anything.

Not without adding one more achievement.

When you have a team as stacked with top talent as No. 1 Malden Catholic, success is only measured in terms of championship banners. Last night, the Lancers took another big step toward achieving that success, as they earned a spot in the Div. 1A Championship Game with a 4-2 win over third-seeded Catholic Conference rivals BC High in the Super 8 Crossover Round before a sellout crowd of 1500 at Lawler Arena.

MC takes on St. John’s Prep, who downed Weymouth 5-1 in the evening’s first game, on Sunday at the TD BankNorth Garden.

It is the first trip to the Super Eight finals for MC (20-2-2) since 2007-08, when they fell to Reading 3-0 in the Championship Game.

“Anything less than the state title is going to be a disappointment for everybody, that’s what (the kids) believe,” said Serino. “There’s a lot of pressure on these guys, they’ve been (ranked) number one since the beginning of the season.”

Malden Catholic has been up to the challenge so far.

The Lancers have gotten stellar play from their second line this postseason, and that trend continued against the Eagles (15-6-3), as Garrett White netted a pair of goals, and Mike Iovanna and Nick Roberto each chipped in with two assists. The Lancers’ Hockey East-bound first line weighed in also, as Ryan Fitzgerald and Brendan Collier each tallied a goal and an assist, and Mike Vecchione, the Catholic Conference all-time single season scoring leader added to his record haul this year with a pair of assists, giving him a total of 77 points on the season.

While the focus is usually on the potent offense that the Lancers put on the ice, not to be overlooked is the steady contribution of goaltender Pat Young. MC’s senior goaltender was outstanding last night as well, turning away 20 BC High shots, and preventing the Eagles from taking advantage of some key opportunities.

“People look at us as an offensive team,” said Serino. “That’s understandable, but my goalie played awfully well. He’s played really well in the tournament, he’s made crucial saves at times when we needed them. I told the guys after the game: ‘It’s not just one line, its not just two ... it takes a little bit from everybody. I thought (Young) did a great job. He might have won the game for us.”

At the other end of the rink, the Eagles net minder also put in a strong effort. Peter Cronin stopped 24 Malden Catholic shots on the game, doing his best to prevent BC High’s season from coming to an end.

“Peter’s progression has been great,” said BC High head coach John Flaherty. “He’s a young kid, he’s only a sophomore, he plays with great composure back there. He doesn’t get rattled. As a goalie, when you give up a goal the first minute of the game, you could crash and he didn’t. He battled, he fought, he’s mentally tough. He put himself on the map this week, and he’s someone that should be watched for the next few years.”

The Lancers got on the board early, when UNH-bound senior Vecchione--sprung by a fine tape to tape pass from Collier--raced in along the boards and blasted a shot at Cronin in the Eagles’ net. BC High’s backstop deflected the initial offering, but the puck squirted loose near the far post and Fitzgerald corralled it, spun around, and fired a low bullet into the back of the net, giving MC an early 1-0 edge after just 31 seconds of hockey.

The second period would see the Lancers give up four power plays, however, two of which resulted in a 5-on-3 advantage for BC, and the tying goal.

Just minutes after a Mike Marsters offering clanged off the far post, MC went down two skaters at 6:09, Jack Buckley leveled things up for BC High just 6 seconds later, making the score 1-1. 

“It could have been a lot worse,” Serino said. “That was a bad time to take (the penalties). We had the one goal, we were hanging in there ... especially since they scored the five on three so quick. They still had plenty of that penalty left.”

MC killed the remaining 1:24 of the Eagles’ advantage.

“I thought after that, we did a real good job shorthanded,” said Serino. “I don’t even know if they had any shots on net after that shorthanded goal. That’s been a strength of ours all year.”

True to form, however, Malden Catholic would retaliate sooner rather than later.

Moments after being freed from the box after serving out a cross-checking penalty, Vecchione ripped a wrist-shot on the BC High net. Cronin was able to parry the offering, but was left utterly helpless to stop the second attempt, and Collier, a BU recruit, rippled the nylon, giving MC a 2-1 lead with 4:29 left in the frame. Fitzgerald and Vecchione assisted on the tally.

The third period would see the Lancers second line slam the door on BC High.

“I thought we played much better defensively in the third period,” said Serino. “We’ve been doing this the whole time ... we’re just looking to go to the offense. We’re giving up way too many scoring chances, especially in the first period. The third period we settled down.”

White scored the first of his goals after Mike Iovanna dispossessed BC’s Matt Doherty, and the puck caromed off the boards and back to the senior forward, who was in prime position to blast a bullet past Cronin, giving the Lancers a 3-1 lead with 11:15 to play.

“I thought we played really well after we got the 3-1 lead,” said Serino. “That lightened things up for us, I think it took a little bit of the pressure off. Hopefully, the way we played in the third will carry over into the Garden.”

White scored again with 2:58 left in the game, and Tom Besinger grabbed a consolation goal for the Eagles 16 seconds later, but Young and Malden Catholic hung on and sealed a date with St. John’s Prep on Sunday in the title game.