asabuski D1 action
SAUGUS - For nearly 50 minutes, the St. Mary's hockey team proved it was every bit the equal of the top-ranked team in the state in Malden Catholic.
The Spartans and Lancers went toe-to-toe through three periods and 4:59.8 of sudden death overtime until freshman Ara Nazarian beat Bailey MacBurnie with two-tenths of a second left to give MC a 4-3 win and the Division 1 title at the Kasabuski Holiday Classic. The game will go in the books as a tie on the teams' records.
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"I am very proud of the effort that my entire team gave," St. Mary's coach Mark Lee said. "It took everyone in there giving everything they have and we were able to answer the challenge of playing that team."
The Spartans (5-1-1) put the clamps on one of the most potent offenses in the state for much of the night and also showed their grit by twice battling back from a one-goal deficit, including a power play goal from Brendan Mageary after MC had taken a 3-2 lead with 6:54 left on Brendan Collier's breakaway tally.
With a little over a minute left in regulation, the Spartans had a chance to steal away a win from the Lancers when they went on the power play. Instead it turned into a showcase for the goaltending prowess of MacBurnie, who twice made spectacular sliding saves on Ryan Fitzgerald to keep the game tied and force overtime.
"Bailey made several big saves for us," Lee said. "And the defense really played well in front of him."
The extra session was dominated by the Lancers, as they had the Spartans hemmed in for much of the first three minutes. Only two saves from MacBurnie on Fitzgerald from near point blank range kept the game alive.
Inside the final 15 seconds, the Spartans had a shot blocked and Tyler Sifferlin freed the puck up to Nazarian, who rushed up ice and beat MacBurnie and the buzzer with a crisp wrister over the Spartan netminder's trapper.
"We respect MC. They have a tremendous team. But I think we have a great team too," Lee said.
The Spartans actually grabbed a 1-0 lead midway through the first period when Tommy Braswell's dump-in took a weird bounce and got past Connor Maloney. The lead lasted all of 64 seconds as Fitzgerald worked free in the left circle and fired home a Collier pass to tie the game after a period.
MC's explosiveness showed up again early in the second when Mike Iovanna gave his team a 2-1 lead just over a minute in when he chipped home a rebound on a power play, giving Spartan fans concern that a trademark Lancers burst might be on the horizon.
But just over a minute later, Cam O'Neill picked up a turnover in the MC zone and deposited it past Maloney to even things back up at 2-2.
In the consolation game, Austin Prep's top line of Nolan Vesey, Scott Corcoran and Ryan Quinn were too much for Bishop Fenwick to handle as the trio netted five goals and handed out seven assists en route to an 8-3 win over the Crusaders.
Austin came out flying as Quinn scored twice and Vesey added another in the first five minutes for a 3-0 lead. Fenwick battled back as Andrew Young scored late in the first, assisted by Mike Napolitano, to cut the lead to 3-1 after one.
