By STEVE FREKER
LOWELL — It’s not like Matt Yianacopolus is the leading candidate for the Unsung Hero Award for this year’s Super 8 favorite Malden Catholic hockey squad. He’s been a key Lancer all year long.
The senior co-captain’s name just did not leap off the roster sheet when trying to guess who might pop in couple of goals in the No. 1 Lancers’ 3-0 Super 8 opening win over No. 8 Marshfield. But there he was Sunday night at the Tsongas Center, big No. 44 doing a little bit of everything, including sniping in a pair of goals and assisting on the third.
The Lancers (14-4-3) take their 1-0 lead in the best-of-3 opening round to Game Two Wednesday (5) at the Chelmsford Forum.
Yianacopolus had a goal in each period for a 2-0 lead after two, assisting on the last goal. The sturdy defenseman also had a lot to say in his “day job” end of the ice, especially in period two when Marshfield made its best scoring bids. He was there to break up two 2-on-1 rushes, a presence throughout.
“I was glad to be in the right place for those shots, my teammates very worked hard and set me up in those spots.” Yianacopolus said of his scoring contribution . The MC captain spread the wealth, credit-wise, on the shutout. “They (Marshfield) have a lot of good forwards and they’re a tough team to defend. Our goalie (Brian Cannata) played fantastic and makes all of us look good in front of him.”
Cannata and crew combined to hand Marshfield (19-3-2), a team that had scored 111 goals to date, its first and only shutout loss of the season.
The Lancers struck first when Yianacopolus one-timed a shot from just inside the right circle which beat Marshfield netminder Nick Young far post just 3:32 into it. The first period overall was fairly even. The Lancers outshot the Rams, 9-8, with an up-tempo pace and penalty-free. Malden Catholic did generate more testing chances on Young. Co-captain Justin Collins drifted in untouched on Young at the left post but lost the puck. With 1:25 left in the period, junior Colin Nestor rebounded his own shot twice right in front but Young slapped it out of danger both times.
Marshfield could not slip one past Cannata (25 saves). Its best bids came in the second period on two thwarted 2-on-1 rushes (with a hat tip to Yianacopolus) and a quick Cannata glove on a Nick Smith wraparound attempt with 7:40 left.
The ice seemed to tilt in MC’s direction shortly at 6:11 of the second when Marshfield’s Jack Murphy went to the penalty box after drilling Lancer captain Justin Collins. Twenty seconds later Yianacopolus blasted a power-play goal from center ice past Young with assists to Joey Guarino and Tom Albert. MC’s third goal came in the third at 9:50 when Nestor sat unseen as a ninja on the left side of the net and poked home a deflected puck shot off Young’s skate by Yianacopolus.
