RallyNorth.net

Central Catholic earns Super 8 bid with dramatic win

Monday, February, 29 By David Willis
Staff writer

BILLERICA — As Central Catholic freshman Sean Brown stood alone at center ice, with more than 1,500 sets of eyes firmly fixed on him, the man stationed 87 feet behind him knew exactly what was coming next.

“He always makes the same move on me in practice and it goes in about 99 percent of the time,” said Raiders goalie Matt Pasquale. “So I knew he was going to go for his move, and luckily it worked again.”

With the game resting on his shoulders, Brown broke in and fired a shot over the goalie’s glove and into the net to give Central Catholic the lead in a sudden-death shootout.

Fellow freshman Pasquale then followed that with a butterfly save on the Reading shooter to clinch the Raiders’ 4-3 shootout victory over Rockets in the Super 8 play-in round.

The victory sends Central to the Division 1A “Super 8” tourney, where it will take on unbeaten top-seed Boston College High School (17-0-3). The best-of-three series will start on Sunday at noon at the Tsongas Center in Lowell. Reading falls back to the Division 1 North tournament.

“It was a long tiring game and I hope I don’t have any homework left,” said Brown. “This is something amazing. I have always wanted to play in the Super 8 in the big venues and hopefully it will go well.”
Tied 3-3 after two periods, Central Catholic and Reading battled through a scoreless third period and two six-minute overtimes before heading into the shootout.
Both squads wer guaranteed five shooters in the shootout, and through that point each team had scored once, with Cam Gendron potting Central’s goal.
The shootout then became sudden death, and Brown was called upon as the No. 6 shooter.
“I had no idea what to think,” said Brown. “But I was looking forward to getting the chance the whole time.
“I came down the ice slow, and around the (faceoff) circles I go to my backhand, then quickly move it to my forehand and try to go high glove.”
The lefty shooter buried it to give his team the lead.
Then, all that was left was one more save by Pasquale, which he delivered with ease.
“A lot was going through my head, but I tried to block it out,” said Pasquale. “I just had to see where he might shoot and go on instincts. I had to be confident in my skills. I knew I made the save right away. It was amazing.”
Central then rushed the ice, piling in front of the net before taking the celebration over to the Raiders’ fan section.
“It was such a relief when Matt made that save,” said Brown. “It was such a crazy feeling all the guys jumping on you and feeling like you won it with the team. I have never been a part of anything this cool.”
Now, Central must turn its focus to BC High.
“BC High is a great team,” said Pasquale. “But I believe we can beat them. You have to stay confident and remember anything can happen.”