Cathedral hockey lets late lead slip away
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WEST SPRINGFIELD - The Cathedral hockey team had double the power-play opportunities of St. John's of Shrewsbury Thursday night, but only half the output in a 3-3 tie at the Olympia Ice Center.
The Panthers led 3-1 late in the third period, but the Pioneers scored twice in the final four minutes to steal a point.
"It was a disappointing finish, but for most of the night we played well," said eighth-year Cathedral coach Brian Foley. "That's a very good team, they're one of the premier teams in the state, and we knew it would be tough."
"It was a tough finish because we played so well until those last four minutes," said senior forward Thomas Quinlan of Hadley. "From there, things went downhill for us pretty quickly."
Cathedral (6-3-3) went 1-for-8 on the man-advantage, while St. John's (9-4-2) converted on 2-of-4 chances, including the equalizer with just 35 seconds left in regulation.
"I don't think we worked enough on the power play, we should have made better chances for ourselves," said Quinlan. "We seemed to shoot too soon, instead of working the puck around."
The Panthers came out strong early in each period. Just 1 minute, 18 seconds into the contest, Quinlan streaked up the middle and put a hard shot on goal that was put back into the net by Peter Crinella for a 1-0 lead.
"That was a nice goal for us, because in practice we work hard on shooting low and hard to get rebound opportunities," said Quinlan. "Peter did a good job crashing the net and putting it home."
Quinlan saw significant ice time on the power play as well as the penalty kill.
"I think I've stepped up well as a senior," Quinlan said. "I've put the puck in the net more than in previous seasons, and try to just play my roles well."
Foley said, "Thomas is one of our key players, and he's gotten a lot of ice time. He's played really well all season."
Crinella tipped in Matt Foley's shot from the point on the power play midway through the second to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead.
"That was a nice power-play goal in the second, and we've been working real hard on the power play, but never could get much of a rhythm in this one," Brian Foley, Matt's father, said. "It's something we have to keep working on, because you can't win without a productive power play."
Cathedral took a two-goal lead 2:01 into the third. From behind the goal line, Jeff Deloria of South Hadley fed a backhand pass to the right point. Matt Foley's shot was stopped by goalie Mario Pizzeri (29 saves), but James Dowd knocked home the rebound.
"The second period was one of the better periods of our season," Brian Foley said. "We played with a ton of energy, and got the lead. They were frustrated and took some penalties. We had our chances in the third to put it away, including a 5-on-3, but we couldn't score and that was the turning point."
St. John's killed off a 58-second 5-on-3 advantage for Cathedral midway through the third, then used that momentum to begin its comeback.
With 4:01 left to play, Kevin Emmerling found Vin D'Amato with a perfect feed from behind the net to cut the Panthers' advantage to a goal.
Called for a penalty with 2:02 to play, it appeared Cathedral would kill off the man-advantage. But with 35 seconds left in regulation and three seconds remaining on the power play, Bryan Nelson's shot from the left point eluded a screened John Liquori.
Emmerling scored the first St. John's goal in the first period, an unassisted tally.
Liquori made 14 saves for the Panthers, including a couple dazzling stops in the third period.
Cullen Geary of South Hadley played a solid game on defense, while Alex Vincellette of Hadley has been out the last couple weeks with pneumonia. Foley said the senior returned to school Thursday but hasn't yet skated.
"This is a huge turning point in the season, we're overcoming some sickness and some injuries, but now we're ready to play," said Quinlan. "We have a lot of confidence that we can make the tournament."
Cathedral needs seven points in its last 10 games to qualify for the Super 8 Tournament.
"We've got a long road ahead of us," said Foley. "We have six games coming up against top-5 teams in the state, so we need to get every point we can.
"The guys are used to the top-notch competition every night, that's what separates our program. We can't afford to take a night off, and that really builds character in the kids. We've been a pretty consistent team, and we work hard every day, but at this point of the season every team is improving, so we need to play our best hockey for the full 45 minutes."
Michael Wilkinson can be reached at mwilkinson@gazettenet.com.
