Woburn, MA – The Lowell Catholic Crusaders traveled to the O’Brien Arena in Woburn to face off against the Tanners of Woburn High School in the Division 2 Round of 32 state tournament opening game and MassNZ was in the house to check it out.
The Tanners came out flying from the start of the period until the final buzzer. It was all Woburn in the first, as they controlled time of possession and zone time all period. The home team did a good job of cycling and creating scoring chances in the prime areas. Lowell Catholic junior goalie Keegan Windsor was sharp early and often made multiple saves in tight to keep Woburn off the board. Both teams had their turns on the power play but both came up empty as each team’s penalty kill was strong. With 3:23 to go Woburn would finally get on the board. Sophomore Avery Powers beat the defenseman down the left side and found senior Matt Mahoney sitting on the back door and he ripped it home. Then with just 11 seconds to go in the period, senior Jack McEleney passed the puck to sophomore defenseman Jared Barreto on the blue line. Barreto fired a shot towards the right post that was tipped in by Powers to give Woburn the 2-0 lead to end the period.
The second began like the first had ended with Woburn controlling play and buzzing around the offensive zone. Windsor had to make a couple of high-end saves early on to keep it a two-goal deficit. At 11:20 in the period, Woburn would add to their lead. Junior Jack Lee was on the back post and batted a McEleney-tipped puck out of the air and into the back of the net. Lowell Catholic, not wanting to go down by four, opted to play a more physical brand of hockey. Woburn still controlled most of the period but when they touched the puck an LC player made them pay. The Crusaders created a couple of scoring chances as a result of their tough play but Woburn goalie senior Logan Roderick was up to task, turning them all away. The period would end 3-0 Woburn.
Just 30 seconds into the third Woburn would extend their lead to 4-0. Mahoney had a shot deflected in front of the net, and the puck bounced out to Lee. Lee slid the puck to McEleney who pulled the puck towards the right post and beat Windsor over his shoulder. LC picked up their pace after that goal and started generating some zone time. They got pucks behind Woburn’s defensemen and forechecked hard putting Woburn on their heels a bit, and it would pay off. With 9:50 to go in the period sophomore Matthew Lumia forechecked hard and picked up the puck finding junior Colin Robinson in the slot. Robinson attacked the net and made a nice move sliding the puck home to the right of a sprawled out Roderick to get Lowell Catholic on the board. Woburn would answer back a few minutes later when Mahoney tipped home a pass from McEleney to give Woburn their fifth goal of the game. Woburn finished the game killing off a penalty, and will now move on the Sweet 16 and face tomorrow’s winner of North Andover vs Milton with their 5-1 win.
Three Stars:
- F Matt Mahoney, Woburn
- F Jack McEleney, Woburn
- F Avery Powers, Woburn
