MANCHESTER – The Bishop Brady boys’ hockey team was feeling pretty good after their senior captain Stephen Donelan netted a power-play goal in the second period, the first score of the game.
The Giants had fired 20 shots at Kennan Alnahas to that point, but the Manchester Central netminder had turned them all away. Once Donelan lit the lamp, Brady was finally over the hump, it seemed. But a couple costly penalties at the end of the second period gave Central a 5-on-3 power play to start the third, and the Little Green seized the opportunity.
Sam Hebert scored two power-play goals in 13 seconds and the No. 8 Central beat No. 9 Bishop Brady, 2-1, at JFK Coliseum in the preliminary round of the Division I tournament on Wednesday.
“We were dominating them, and we all knew it, until the 5-on-3,” Donelan said. “That’s the hardest part, making sure no one loses their composure. … The stupid penalties we got today, that really hurt us.”
Brady Coach Brian Saucier said composure has been a teaching point throughout the season.
“It’s tough for them right now, the five seniors we have – this is how they end it,” he said. “I’ve been preaching all year about composure and penalties and you can’t take them, gotta stay out of the box. We had some lapses there.”
The Giants (6-12-1) became the first casualty of the offseason just when they were beginning to play their best hockey of the season. After a rough tumble through the first half of the year, Brady ended the season with four wins in seven games. Their final two losses before playoffs came in a home-and-home series with fourth-seeded Hanover, a 2-0 loss and a 1-0 loss.
The Giants found solace in limiting Hanover to three goals and felt they were on the upswing heading into the postseason. They hung on for the final spot on the bracket and matched up with Central (9-10), a team they beat earlier in the season on the road.
They were confident, and through the first two periods Brady looked like the better team as they outshot Central 28-9. But the Little Green had the best player on the ice in Alnahas (34 saves).
When Donelon scored on a backdoor feed from Kegan Vincent to go ahead 1-0, Alnahas spun around in the crease and banged his stick on the ice. His forwards weren’t finding many chances at the other end. If Central was going to win, Alnahas couldn’t let another puck go by and his defenseman couldn’t let Brady set up another backdoor one-time shot.
“Kennan has kept us in all year and he did it again,” Central Coach Brian Stone said.
Shortly after Donelon gave Brady the lead, Joshua Holden was called for a hitting from behind on a faceoff in Central’s end. He was tagged with a five-minute major that would carry into the third period by more than three minutes.
The Giants didn’t make it any easier on themselves after that. Donelan was tagged with a high stick penalty at the final buzzer of the second period, giving Central two full minutes of a 5-on-3 power play to open the third period.
The Little Green hadn’t found many opportunities to score through the first 30 minutes, and this was the best chance they had to tie it.
It wasn’t easy at first. Kevin Anderson and Vincent laid out to block a pair of shots in Central’s first attack and the puck cleared. On their next possession, Central’s Garrison Grant threw a shot at the net that bounced around before Hebert found it and snapped the puck by Matt Strickland (16 saves) to tie the game 1-1.
The goal forgave Donelan of his penalty, but Brady still faced a 5-on-4 penalty kill for 2:27 from the Holden’s major. But Hebert only needed 13 seconds to give Central the go-ahead goal with 13:18 left in the game.
“The five-minute penalty that they called was absolutely the turning point in the game,” Saucier said. “I can disagree with the call all I want, but it doesn’t matter. We still had our chances at the end. The power play just didn’t come through.”
Brady had two chances in the final 10 minutes to bring the game back to even, but Giants’ legs were beginning to show signs of exhaustion from all their time on the kill. First, Brendan Courtney went to the box for tripping, but the Little Green killed that one quietly without giving up any quality looks. Later, with 3:46 left, Hebert left the ice for good on a call of unsportsmanlike conduct after exchanging words with a Brady player in the faceoff circle.
But even with Central’s hot hand off the ice, Brady couldn’t get beat the hot goalie. They fired five shots at Alnahas on the power play, but didn’t get one through. A scrum in front of the net was their last chance under two minutes on the clock, but Alnahas covered the puck before another stick could try to poke it through.
Central will face top-ranked Bedford on Saturday at noon as the Division I quarterfinals begin.
“We dominated that team,” Donelan said. “I’m just proud of the boys for working so hard this year … it just didn’t end up the way we wanted it to.”
(Nick Stoico can be reached at 369-3339, nstoico@cmonitor.com and on Twitter @NickStoico.)
Pembroke-Campbell 5, ConVal-Conant 4
Key players: Pembroke-Campbell – Mathew Tremblay (goal), Jayden Lamy (2 goals), Alex Mailhot (goal), Nate Lamontagne (goal)
Highlights/key moments: Pembroke-Campbell netted four goals in the third period at Everett Arena, punching their ticket to a quarterfinal matchup with top-seeded Kennett on Saturday.
Records: Pembroke-Campbell (9-10); ConVal-Conant (7-10)