FALMOUTH – After a two-year hiatus, the Buddy Ferreira Classic championship trophy is headed back to a familiar home.
Team defense and strong goaltending were at the forefront of an absolute dog fight Wednesday night in the 30th edition of the stacked tournament at Falmouth Ice Arena, where No. 12 BC High (10-9-1) made one more play than No. 5 Reading en route to a 1-0 win for its seventh title in the last 10 tournaments.
Domenic Conte (24 saves) earned tournament MVP honors, while sophomore Brendan Banks (game-winning goal) made the All-Tournament team for the Eagles. Reading’s JT Coyne (19 saves), defenseman Gavin Furness and forward Jack Melly were also selected to the All-Tournament team.
“The teams that are here, it’s a great prelude to the (state) tournament,” said BC High head coach John Flaherty. “You want to be playing your best hockey at the right time and I think that’s what we’re doing right now. Guys are buying in, guys are executing. … I’m proud of them, I’m proud of the effort from (Conte) all the way out.”
A high-energy, highly physical affair left limited openings for either attack the whole way, though there were still several chances that Conte and Coyne were called upon to keep their teams in it.
After Coyne made a couple highlight-reel saves in a shutout first period, the Eagles were finally able to net one with 5:20 left in the second period. Banks broke free from contact behind the net and curled into the base of the right circle with possession. He stopped in his tracks with nobody on him, and fired a goal past Coyne’s glove into a tight window near-side.
“I was coming out of the corner and usually there’s someone on me,” Banks said. “But nobody was on me so I turned to the net and just shot it. … It gave the whole team momentum, I think.”
Momentum carried over into Conte’s play over the last 15 minutes, as Reading peppered him with 11 shots in a comeback bid in the third.
He stood tall to seal the win and snap the Rockets’ eight-game win streak.
“After that goal, I was getting hyped up for my team,” Conte said. “I really wanted to bear down and finish that game out.”
“This is a big opportunity for him on a big stage,” Flaherty added. “We needed him to be our best player against Reading and he was our best player. Not surprised because he’s put the work in.”
Reading pulled Coyne with 76 seconds left out of a timeout, but the Eagles defense took care of the rest to deny a single shot on net during 6-on-5 play.
“You saw the guys diving head-first in front of pucks, they wanted this one,” Flaherty said. “They played a typical BC High style. … We play solid team-defense from the goalie-out and sacrifice for our teammates, and that’s what we did today.”
With the win, BC High showed its record isn’t indicative of the threat it presents as the Div. 1 state tournament nears. Outside of Catholic Conference play, the Eagles finish the regular season at 7-2-1 and capped it with notable hardware.
“I think this gives us momentum heading into (the state tournament),” Banks said. “No one was really looking at us at the beginning of the season. … (We took) a big step up.”
