ARLINGTON – Once the hottest team in Div. 1, a four-game skid to close the regular season had the Arlington Catholic boys hockey team trending in the wrong direction heading into a loaded state tournament field.
Consider it unfazed.
With a 4-1 win over 19th-seeded Chelmsford in a Div. 1 first-round matchup Wednesday night, the No. 14 Cougars (16-6-1) pieced together much of what anchored a 15-game unbeaten streak in the regular season.
Four different players scored, including one on a power play. Sparks of energy fueled game-winning plays throughout. The penalty kill was tasked a concerning seven times, but six kills behind freshman Stephen Camara’s 24 saves, and Arlington Catholic’s typical dose of physicality ensured it continued its season.
A rematch with the No. 3 St. John’s Prep team that started their skid is next for the Cougars in the second round on Saturday at 3:20 p.m.
“After losing to (SJP), we had a couple cracks that opened up – winning hides all that stuff,” said Arlington Catholic head coach Curt Colarullo. “We had a little bit of a skid, but we came back and had some really good practices. The boys worked hard. We kind of got it back a little bit, I thought we played very well tonight.”
It took just two minutes and 15 seconds for the Cougars to hit the reset button, generating a goal from its third line for an early lead. Defenseman Sam Mathews’ breakout pass was tipped in the neutral zone by Connor Keough ahead to freshman Landon Masters in the offensive zone, and he sniped the top far corner for a 1-0 advantage from the right circle.
That was exactly the kind of tone-setter Arlington Catholic aimed for, understanding the urgency at hand.
“Everyone was just working, everyone wanted it,” said senior co-captain Tyler Heldenbergh. “We go out there, we have a great first shift. Everyone’s hitting, banging bodies. A lot of good stuff like that, a lot of blocked shots. … This was our last home game here. It meant something to us. We all wanted to win.”
Arlington Catholic handled its first penalty kill with ease, generating three short-handed quality shots that Will McNeal (34 saves) denied to keep it a 1-0 deficit for Chelmsford. He couldn’t stop a 2-0 deficit a few minutes later, though, as Brayden Boczenowski tipped in a shot from Stephen Constantine at the point.
Penalties continued to rack up for the Cougars after Heldenbergh’s goal early in the second gave them a 3-0 lead, and it finally bit them on John Rossetti’s goal to cut the deficit to 3-1. Otherwise, Camara was excellent in helping kill off the other six penalties, as well as 41 seconds of 5-on-3.
“He’s awesome, I love him,” Heldenbergh said. “He’s the backbone of our team, really. After losing a guy like (All-Scholastic) Pat Clair, it’s hard to find a goalie to be the guy and to bail you out in certain situations. He’s definitely our guy.”
It didn’t even take two minutes for Arlington Catholic to get that goal back, sparked by Boczenowski’s physicality.
He hunted down big hits in each of the three zones, punctuated by one at the boards in the defensive zone that set up Constantine for a breakaway goal and a 4-1 lead.
“At any given moment, anybody on this team can give us some energy,” Colarullo said. “He gave us energy all over the ice. … That lifts the team, that lifts the line, for sure.”
