Photos: Warriors Fall in State Title Hockey Game at the Garden

[Editor's note: It was erroneously reported on March 21 that Chris Perry suffered a severed femoral artery. He experienced a deep cut, but it did not sever an artery. The article has been updated to reflect this.]

BOSTON--Marshfield senior captain Chris Perry composed quite the inspirational tome in order to help get his teammates revved up for their Division 1 State Championship showdown with streaking Wakefield High at the TD Garden yesterday. The inspiration he ended up providing, however, came in a much different manner.

After seeing Perry carted off the ice about halfway through the game with a severe 12-inch gash to the inside of his right leg, the Rams rose to the occasion, overcoming a 2-1 deficit and skating to an inspired 3-2 win over the Warriors (14-7-4) in the title game. It was Marshfield’s first state championship since 2006.

Perry was rushed into surgery at Mass General Hospital directly from the ice to repair the deep wound, but is expected to be fine, according to Marshfield (19-3-5) head coach Dan Connolly. Perry suffered the injury during a collision with Wakefield’s John Sartell.

“Chris (Perry) wrote practically a novel to the team about what it meant to be a hockey player and what it meant to be in this moment,” said Connolly. “If he turns it in as an English paper, it’s going to be an ‘A.’ The kids realized between the second and third periods: ‘we’re going to go out and win, this is the kid who told us what it means to be here.’”

With 1:31 to play in a 2-2 game, Mike Carbone blasted a high slap shot past Wakefield’s stellar backstop Joe Cerulo to give the Rams the win. The Warriors’ Cinderella run through the tournament refused to go down easy however, as Marshfield goaltender Kyle Moran was forced to make perhaps the biggest of his 18 saves in the closing seconds of the contest.

Marshfield got on the board first in fluky fashion, just 24 seconds into the second period, when, following a nerve-addled opening stanza, Ryan Connors tried to play the puck out of the left corner but instead sent it off the leg of a Wakefield defender and past the helpless Cerulo.

The Warriors would answer from the power play at 11:04, when Adam Giancola cleaned up a rebound off a Brett Buckley shot, leveling matters at 1-1. Giancola would score again 31 seconds into the final frame, giving Wakefield it’s only lead of the game.

With 3:35 remaining, Connor McLean redirected a Ty Martina offering, and Marshfield had another fluky goal, but this one gave the Rams all the momentum going forward, and just over two minutes later, they would get their game-winner.

Cerulo, who has been nearly impenetrable during the tournament, was tremendous once again between the pipes for Wakefield.

“Joey’s been playing great all year,” said Wakefield head coach Derek Edgerley. “He’s a junior who hasn’t played at all up until this year. He comes in, and he’s probably our MVP.”

Despite walking away on the wrong end of the decision, Edgerley couldn’t be prouder of his team and their efforts in making it as far as they did.

“There’s going to be a winner, and there’s going to be a loser,” he said. “I’m just proud that we came out and gave it one hundred percent ... sometimes, you find something; we found something with these kids called heart, and it was a great story.”