Chestnut Hill, MA – MassNZ made the drive on the final day of the Semifinals to see more teams punch their ticket to TD Garden. First up was the D2 Semifinal to see who would face Tewksbury: top-seeded Canton Bulldogs or the 4th-seeded Burlington Red Devils. This game is certainly not without its pageantry as it took place at the home of the BC Eagles: Conte Forum. The rink was packed early and both teams brought strong contingents of fans. The Burlington fans wore Hawaiian shirts as their theme and the Canton fans were dressed in all green for St Patrick’s Day. In a bizarre twist, the anthems came before the starting lineups, but no matter, it was time for hockey.
In the first period, both teams were feeling the enormity of the moment. There were several turnovers, missed passes and wide shots. Things were a bit helter-skelter and that benefited Burlington as their opponent relies on consistency and execution. The game continued to take shape and the Red Devils were causing all kinds of problems on the breakout. Their forecheck was aggressive and they were making a point to finish every check and that physicality was a wake up call for the Bulldogs. Burlington continued to own possession and they would be first on the scoreboard. A nice outlet by senior Giacomo Berardinelli found freshman Matthew Ulmschneider and he entered the zone along with junior James Gordon. It was Gordon who found a loose puck off the stick of Ulmschneider and buried it in the open net: 1-0 Burlington. At this point the stunned Bulldogs were looking to get back to form and the Red Devils would continue to ramp up the pressure. The struggles on the breakout were hampering their offensive looks up ice and things were looking good for the lower seed. As the period progressed, Canton began to right the ship and earned a power play at the 12 minute mark. That’s where they would cash in to tie this thing up. Senior defense Teddy Shuman found junior Ryan Elrick at the top of the zone and he wired one on net and the resulting rebound was put home by senior Joey Ryan. We were all square at 1-1. There would be a few more close calls before the buzzer but that was our score after one.
In the second period, it started as a carbon copy of the first as Burlington came out strong and aggressive and flummoxed the Canton defense with their aggressive forecheck. It would only take two minutes for them to untie the game as junior Aiden Shanahan put a shot on net that sophomore Nick Tulipano grabbed and buried to give Burlington the lead once again: 2-1. At that point Canton had a choice to make: fight or flight and they very much chose fight. They began moving the puck quicker and picking up their activity in the neutral zone to slow down transition plays for Burlington. The momentum began to shift their way as we crossed the five minute mark and it was punctuated with a Canton goal. Seven minutes in, shorthanded no less, an initial look by Ryan floated up in the air and landed in front of senior Andrew Gillis who deflected it on net and it trickled through the pads to tie us up 2-2. The Red Devils wanted a hand pass call to negate the goal but the referees disagreed and on we went with the tie score. Canton continued to own the possession and it would take another seven minutes for them to take their first lead. With 26 seconds remaining it was sophomore Kellen Labanara who gained the zone and found fellow sophomore Brayden Dickie and his quick shot would trickle home to make it 3-2 Bulldogs. That would be our score after two.
In the third period, Burlington put on an early push and forced Canton to be precise on their zone exits. They were aggressive with their sticks and taking away space, but Canton was able to weather the storm. The possession began to tilt more towards the Bulldogs’ side and that meant it was easier to protect the lead. They were focused on high-percentage plays: clean defensive zone exits, clean offensive zone entries and strong stick play to maintain puck control. They played this game well through the first 10 minutes and then they would insert the dagger at the 12-minute mark. A slick cycle play from senior Shane Kelleher and fellow senior Cullen O’Brien resulted in the latter firing a shot top shelf to double the lead at 4-2. It was late in the game with 2:49 left and Burlington called its timeout to regroup. They would subsequently pull their goalie coming out of the timeout and Canton would finish this one off as Shuman fired a puck from behind his own net all the way down the ice for an empty netter. The Red Devils kept the net empty on the ensuing faceoff and Canton would add another empty netter with 1:46 left as Gillis would fire it home from the red line right next to the bench to give us our final score of 6-2 in favor of Canton.
That now means we will have what all the prognosticators predicted: a 1 vs 2 matchup between Canton and Tewksbury at TD Garden, a rematch of the Ed Burns Coffee Pot Final.
Three Stars:
- F Andrew Gillis, Canton
- D Teddy Shuman, Canton
- F Nick Tulipano, Burlington