St John’s Hockey Falls Short of State Title in OT

The end came suddenly and without warning for the St. John’s Prep hockey team in Sunday night’s MIAA Division 1A championship game at TD Garden when Malden Catholic junior Brendan Collier buried his 30th goal of the season with 7:10 remaining in overtime, giving the Lancers a 4-3 win and their first-ever 1A title.

Collier gathered in a loose puck a stride outside the offensive blue line, moved to the slot, veered to his right to gain separation from a Prep defender and whipped a cross-fire backhander into the top left corner over the shoulder of St. John’s goaltender David Letarte (31 saves). It was a clean, precise strike; the picture of a goal-scorer’s goal.

“Our plan for overtime was to get shots to the net, but we didn't have any really good chances,” said St. John’s coach Kris Hanson, whose club finished 18-6-1 and reached the 1A title game for the first time in program history. “In the end, both teams had their best guys on the ice. The winning goal was a nice shot. If you’re going to lose, you hope it’s on a quality goal, not some carom or deflection.”

After falling to Malden Catholic (21-2-2) for the third time this season, the Eagles will be left to ponder a number of “if onlys” and what ifs.” They opened leads of 1-0 and 3-1, but Malden Catholic twice responded with goals inside of 35 seconds after the Eagles, blunting any chance for the Prep to secure momentum.

With the game tied and the title hanging in the balance, consecutive Malden Catholic penalties gave St. John’s with what was, in effect, a three-minute power play that chewed up all but the final 16 seconds of regulation. The Eagles, however, were able to muster only one shot on net.

“Someboday had to lose. I thought everybody played a good game and that, for the most part, we did what we wanted to do. We just didn’t get the overtime goal,” said Hanson.

“Nobody gave us much chance tonight and we weren't even on the map in pre-season. I don’t think we were in anybody’s top ten. I couldn’t be any prouder of these guys – we’ve certainly come a long way and it’s one of the best teams I’ve been a part of,” he continued.

A scoreless first period featured a lot of probing and parrying, but shots were at a premium. The goalies, Letarte and Pat Young of Malden Catholic (21 saves), kept it scoreless by matching key saves in the final minute. Letarte flashed his right pad to deny Ryan Fitzgerald from the right circle and Young turned aside two close-range shots before covering up for a faceoff with 12 seconds left in the period.

The second period was a different matter altogether as six goals went on the board. Prep senior third-liner Matt McDonald gave the Eagles a 1-0 edge at 2:27 on a power play strike set up by Sam Kurker and Shane Eiserman. Malden Catholic responded 33 seconds later when freshman third-liner Tyler Sifferlin drove the net and deposited the rebound of Bob Keogh's initial shot into the open right side.

With the score knotted at 1-all, the big guns took over. The Prep opened a 3-1 lead behind senior captain and Catholic Conference co-MVP Colin Blackwell. He gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead with 6:11 left in the period when he gathered his own rebound, circled behind the net and banked a shot from the left side off a fallen Malden Catholic defender and past Young. Then, with 2:11 left in the period, Blackwell accepted Jon Farrow's drop pass, waited until Farrow made himself available at the left of the slot, then feathered a pass that Farrow blasted into the vacant left side for a 3-1 lead.

It didn't last long. The Lancers’ Fitzgerald won a battle for position in the low slot and re-directed Collier’s bullet pass from the right wall past Letarte’s outstretched right skate, making it 3-2 just 23 seconds later.

Then, when it appeared the Eagles would escape the period with a one-goal lead, Malden Catholic’s league co-MVP and captain Mike Vecchione tracked down Collier’s long diagonal lob from deep in his own zone at the St. John’s blue line. With a Prep defender draped all over him, he angled in from the right circle and chipped a shot past Letarte while falling to tie it, 3-3, with 6.6 seconds left in the period.

Both teams played the third period with extreme caution, neither wanting to make a season-ending mistake. That left it to Collier to settle the issue in extra time.

Twelve Prep seniors saw their careers come to an end – forwards Blackwell, Farrow, McDonald, Ryan Palmer, Devin Murray, Andrew Pierce, Derek Palm and Jarrod Hines and defensemen Joe Currie, Scott Derrickson, Christian Gutowski and Matt West.