Reading, MA – On this Martin Luther King Jr Day, the matchup that everyone had circled on their calendars took place at 1pm. The top-ranked Cardinals of Pope Francis Prep traveled east to the Burbank Arena to face off against the second-ranked Rockets of Reading HS. This was the first time in the season that the top-ranked and second-ranked teams had faced off against each other and it was a packed barn with interested onlookers supporting both sides.
The start of the first period was a feeling-out process for both teams. Reading implemented a trap-style forecheck trying to make it hard for Pope Francis to get any speed through the neutral zone on their breakout. Pope Francis settled in and started to tilt the ice, spending substantial time in the offensive zone. Reading’s junior goaltender Owen Holland was busy early and often in the period: turning away at least a dozen shots to keep the Cardinals off the board. Pope Francis used their points well and got traffic in front of Holland, but he was up to the task and tracked the puck well. Pope senior goalie Nick Ritchie stopped all the shots he faced in the period and it ended 0-0.
Reading needed to have a good start to the period and they did just that. They went shift-for-shift with Pope Francis up and down the ice, with both teams creating some chances and both goalies up to the task. Reading started to play more physical, looking to wear down the Cardinals. With about 10 minutes to go a Reading player jumped on a turnover in the Cardinals zone and went in all alone but Ritchie made a great save to keep the game scoreless. With about nine minutes to go, Pope Francis would go on the power play looking to break the tie. The Rockets’ penalty kill was sharp and caused Pope Francis to turn the puck over: giving the Rockets another semi-breakaway on Ritchie. He made a great pad save to once again keep the Rockets off the scoreboard. The Rockets had gained some momentum but with 4 1/2 minutes to go the Cardinals would finally get on the board. A Rockets defenseman tried to pinch down and hold the Cardinals in their zone but the puck got chipped by him, creating a two-on-one the other way. Junior Liam Dolan slid the puck through the Rockets defender and right on the tape of junior Joe Orszulak who beat a sprawling Holland to give his team the 1-0 lead.
Pope pushed the pace to start the third period and Holland had to be sharp early: making a couple of key saves to keep this game close. The Cardinals put pucks deep behind the Reading defensemen, which made it hard for them to go 200 feet to establish any offensive zone time. The Rockets would earn a power play with 9:45 left to go in the period. They moved the puck around well and created a couple of quality chances, but Ritchie stood tall and helped to kill the penalty off. With 5:30 left in the period, Pope would add another goal and take the 2-0 lead. With the puck down low behind Holland, Dolan pulled it out of the scrum, came around the corner of the net and found junior Matteo Cuccovia wide open at the back post. Cuccovia one-timed the puck and beat Holland for the goal. The game was up and down the ice for the next few minutes with Pope trying to get pucks deep behind Reading’s defenseman and the Rockets looked for some sustained offense zone time. With a minute left Reading took a penalty and put the Cardinals back on the power play. With 18 seconds left, junior defender Max Monroe fed fellow junior Matt Regan a pass in the circle to the left of Holland. Regan let a quick shot go through traffic, beating Holland and giving his team the 3-0 lead. From there, the clock ticked down to zero and the Cardinals secured the win on the road 3-0.
Three Stars:
- G Nick Ritchie, Pope Francis
- F Liam Dolan, Pope Francis
- F Joe Orszulak, Pope Francis