Woburn, MA – Following a long drive from Springfield, the Cardinals of Pope Francis High School traveled east to the O’Brien Rink to face off against the Red and Black of Winchester High School.
Both teams were playing a safe brand of hockey from the puck drop. Winchester did a good job of establishing their forecheck early and often; putting pucks behind the Pope defensemen and using their speed to take time and space away from them. Pope was looking for the wide pass through the neutral zone but for the first half of the period, it wasn’t connecting. The game was back and forth with neither team creating many scoring chances, but with 7:32 to go the Red and Black would get on the board. Senior Dayton Ogden picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and carried it down the right side into Pope’s zone. Ogden beat the defenseman wide and left a drop pass for senior captain Chris McCarthy who fired a shot from the slot. The puck looked to hit a Pope player and change direction beating senior goalie Nick Ritchie. In the last 5 minutes, both teams traded chances but the period ended 1-0 in favor of Winchester.
The Cardinals came out in the second with a clear goal in mind: push the pace, carry the play and create offensive scoring chances. The Cardinals also switched goalies to start the period. Sophomore George Ramsey replaced Ritchie for the remainder of the game. The Pope forwards did a great job of low cycling and then feeding the strong side defenseman who got quick shots to the net. Winchester played solid defensive zone coverage and kept many of Pope’s offensive play outside the dots. They got their sticks in passing lanes and made it nearly impossible to penetrate the slot area. Pope’s best chance came with eight minutes to go in the period. The defenseman snapped a quick shot on junior goalie Macklin O’Flynn who made the initial save but he couldn’t hold the puck. Pope’s forwards crashed the net but the Red and Black battled hard in the scrum to keep the puck out. Pope had a chance on the power play with under three minutes to go in the period but once again Winchester’s defensive play limited any scoring chances. It looked like the period would end 1-0 but with 39 seconds left, senior Michael McGrath picked up the puck at the blue line and walked down to the top of the circle snapping a shot on O’Flynn. O’Flynn thought he trapped it in his chest but it dropped out and junior Matt Regan was there to bang it home. The period ended 1-1.
Even though Pope began the period by killing a penalty, It didn’t take long for them to take the lead. A minute and a half into the third, McGrath won a defensive zone faceoff and carried the puck into Winchester’s zone creating a 2-on-1 with junior forward Wolfgang Zinger. McGrath made a great pass through the Winchester defenseman and Zinger tapped it home to give Pope the 2-1 lead. Just a few minutes later Pope would extend their lead to 3-1. Sophomore Quinn Woytowicz got a pass from junior Jack Goggin and he carried the puck through the neutral zone. Facing a 1-on-2, he entered Winchester’s zone and pulled up creating time and space and he waited for help. He found the trailing forward senior Nick Burns in the high slot who got a quick shot off, beating O’Flynn over his right shoulder. Pope was clicking offensively and O’Flynn was under siege for most of the period. He made multiple point-blank saves holding Pope to three goals for most of the period giving his team a chance to get back in the game. But with 14 seconds left, Pope would add their fourth of the evening. Zinger got the breakout started, hitting Regan in stride skating into the neutral zone. Regan and junior Liam Dolan went 2-on-2 into Winchester’s zone with Regan dishing the puck to Dolan wide and driving the net taking the defenseman with him. Zinger was trailing the play and Dolan found him entering the zone. Zinger came down the slot, made a great move on the defenseman and beat O’Flynn under the right pad to end the game. Pope was ultimately too much for Winchester tonight, they got better and better as the game went on. 4-1 was the final.
Three Stars:
- F Wolfgang Zinger, Pope Francis
- F Michael McGrath, Pope Francis
- F Matt Regan, Pope Francis