Div. 1 North boys hockey: Belmont, Reading to face off in semifinals

WOBURN — A pair of defensive battles unfolded yesterday in the Div. 1 North quarterfinals at O’Brien Arena in Woburn.

First, fourth-ranked Belmont gutted out a 1-0 overtime victory over fifth-seeded St. Mary’s.

Locked in a scoreless tie in overtime, Marauders senior Justin Rocha chipped the puck past the pinching St. Mary’s defense at his own blue line, raced down the left wing boards and cut into the left circle before feeding junior Ben Fici in the slot, who shoveled the puck home on a one-timer 1:52 into the extra frame, sending the Belmont bench into a frenzy.

“In the four-on-four situation we want to play tight in our end,” said Marauders head coach Fred Allard. “But the second we win possession, we want to take off and try to take advantage because we’re a pretty quick team.”

Senior goaltender and captain Nico Carere was sensational in net for Belmont (12-5-5) making 34 saves. He was especially good early as the Spartans (13-8-2) outshot the Marauders 11-3 in the opening frame.

“We did a good job keeping some of their chances after the first period to the perimeter,” Allard said. “If we can do that, Nico can stop just about anything.”

In the second half of the double-header, top-ranked Reading (11-5-6) was able to stave off No. 8 Austin Prep (11-8-4), in a 4-1 victory.

Reading opened the scoring 9:55 into the second period when Michael Dufton worked his way out from behind the Cougars net, spinning and squeezing a wrister inside the short side post.

With 1:39 to go in the second, Ryan Goodwin made it 2-0, picking the far-side top corner from the right hash on a 2-on-0 rush.

With just eight seconds remaining in the middle frame, AP senior captain Christopher Roy came up big, cruising into the high slot and going bar-down to cut the deficit in half.

Just 3:47 into the third, Treavor Owens deposited a loose puck parked at the top of the AP crease to make it 3-1.

Reading’s stout defense would bottle up the Cougar attack the rest of the way, surrendering just five shots in the third period.

“We’ve had four returning D that have been here a long time, they’re pretty big, they’re pretty physical, they understand how to get pucks out of the zone,” said Doherty. “Kids are buying into what we’re trying to accomplish and the attitude is great in the room, all of that contributes.”

Landyn Greatorex added an empty netter with 19 seconds left to round out the scoring.

Reading and Belmont will meet in the semifinal this Thursday night at Tsongas Arena in Lowell.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3ahUm50