North Billerica, MA – In the late game at the Chelmsford Forum, St. John’s Shrewsbury punched their ticket to the Final Four with a sensational Daniel Menyalkin overtime goal. Colin McCarthy got the win in net for the Pioneers and Graham Emerick took the loss despite a terrific game in net for Winchester.
Like their last game, St. John’s came out flying, creating several early chances. Emerick was up to the challenge until Derek Mulligan slid a puck to a wide open Dominic Reidy, who popped home the game’s first goal. It was a short-lived 1-0 lead for the Pioneers, however. Four minutes later, Chris McCarthy snapped home a cross-zone pass from Caiden Brady on the power play to even the score at 1-1 with 7:59 left. The first ended 1-1, as the game was tight and well-paced.
In the second frame, Brady made another terrific pass to Johnny Garney, who quickly snapped the puck low and hard into the cage. It was 2-1 Winchester, who seemed to have a slight edge through the rest of the second.
The third started with a bang, with chances on both sides and physicality. Then Menyalkin quickly twisted his body and sifted a pass to an open Caleb Keyes for the score. He showed quick hands in the finish in tight. It remained 2-2 in a tense Chelmsford Forum until Brady took a pass in stride from Axel Osborn, made a slick deke, and buried short side up top to make it 3-2 Winchester with just 4:38 left in the game. It was Brady’s third point of the game. The large Winchester crowd was upbeat as the tension rose. With 2:44 left, St. John’s called a timeout. They came out of the timeout slow but finally got McCarthy out of the net for the extra skater. With about 45 seconds left, Ryder Bisson had the puck at the left point, snapped a puck high, through traffic, and into the top corner of the net to tie the game. It was 3-3, and we were headed to overtime.
The overtime period was played 4-on-4 and Winchester had the puck for much of the first four minutes. Then Menyalkin had time and space in the neutral zone; he changed speed and took off to the net as a right shot on the right wing. He got to the net front and scooped the puck under the crossbar with his backhand for a terrific goal to end an excellent game. It was a 4-3 win for the St. John’s Pioneers as they head to the Division I Final Four.
Notes from Coach Murph: The St. John’s Shrewsbury line of Keyes, Menyalkin, and Brady Chenevert was tough to defend all night. Colin McCarthy made the saves he should have and played well in the win. Caiden Brady for Winchester was supreme all night. The Winchester staff again took a team that struggled through moments this season and played their best hockey in March. Kudos.
Three Stars:
- F Daniel Menyalkin, St. John’s Shrewsbury
- F Caiden Brady, Winchester
- F Caleb Keyes, St John’s Shrewsbury