PHOTO BY SPENSER HASAK
Eric Pedro, left, and Dante Maribito celebrate the Spartans win.
By MIKE ALONGI
LOWELL — After a slow start, the No. 4 St. Mary’s Spartans boys hockey team defeated the No. 11 Arlington Catholic Cougars, 3-1, in the Division 1 North title game at the Paul E. Tsongas Center on Monday night. With the win, the Spartans (21-5-0) will move on to face Division 1 South champion Franklin (16-3-5) at the TD Garden for the Eastern Mass championship on Sunday.
“I’m so excited to be on this journey with such a great group of guys,” said St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee. “These players go out and give everything we ask for, every game. We’re a young team and the guys showed a lot of poise under pressure tonight, and the end result is what they deserve. They deserve to go to the Garden.”
Junior assistant captain Dante Maribito had a goal and an assist to lead the Spartans, while senior captain forward Conor Foley and senior Tom Frati each scored one goal. Juniors Andrew Kreamer and Mike Desmond, sophomores Ryan Turenne and Anthony Bono, and freshman Kyle Ouellette each notched one assist. Junior goaltender Andrew LoRusso had 15 saves on the night.
Arlington Catholic came out swinging in the first period, scoring a goal within the first five minutes of play. With 11:15 remaining in the period, Cougars senior captain Kevin Morrissey took a long pass up the right side from senior captain Matthew Solvilletti and flicked a wrist shot over LoRusso’s left shoulder to give Arlington Catholic a 1-0 lead.
The Spartans got plenty of chances in the first period, getting 10 shots on goal. But Arlington Catholic junior goalie Matt Anderson wouldn’t let anything by.
“We felt we held the edge even though they got that quick goal,” Lee said. “But we were confident and we didn’t panic. We kept the pressure on them and it ended up giving us opportunities.”
After the first period, Arlington Catholic held on to a 1-0 lead.
The Spartans were able to take control in the second period. The Spartans once again put a lot of shots on net, and this time they were able to capitalize on a couple.
With about five minutes left in the period, Frati scored after battling through a crowded crease and poked in a rebound to tie the game up for St. Mary’s.
Riding that momentum, the Spartans scored again three-and-a-half minutes later when Maribito snagged a loose puck in front of the net and beat Anderson five-hole.
At the end of the second period, the Spartans led, 2-1.
St. Mary’s was able to add to the lead early in the third period. With just under 10 minutes to go and the Spartans on a powerplay, Foley took a pass from Kreamer, weaved between defenders and fired a wrister right over Anderson’s left shoulder to make it 3-1.
From that point, the Spartans were able to skate out the rest of the clock and walk away with the championship trophy.
After the game, Lee talked about missing out on the Super 8 tournament, something he says gave the team motivation.
“I would be lying if that wasn’t motivation,” Lee said. “We felt like we got slighted, and the only way we can answer that back is to go out and do what we’ve been doing. We still have one more game to finish, and then we’ll let other people decide if we’ve been slighted.”
Mike Alongi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @m_alongi.
