Catholic Memorial, Lincoln Hennessy (2 goals) advance by Archbishop Williams

FRAMINGHAM — For some teams, Loring Arena can be a haunting venue to play at given its lengthy history. Catholic Memorial (17-6-1) put all doubts in the rearview mirror and was able to call the bar…

👉 Click Here to read in detail 👈

FRAMINGHAM — For some teams, Loring Arena can be a haunting venue to play at given its lengthy history.

Catholic Memorial (17-6-1) put all doubts in the rearview mirror and was able to call the barn home for a night.

Senior captain Lincoln Hennessy sniped a pair of goals Thursday, as the fifth-seeded Knights reached the Div. 1 boys hockey semifinals for the first time under the statewide format with a 6-2 rout of No. 12 Archbishop Williams.

“That’s a big win for us and our program,” said Catholic Memorial coach Larry Rooney. “We’ve had a pretty good (stretch) of January, February and now into March. We knew on paper that we were the better team, I say that humbly and modestly. But anybody can beat anybody at this point in the season.”

Archbishop Williams (13-11-0) entered Thursday on a Cinderella run. The Knights were ready for the challenge, as sophomore forward Mike Melvin fed a pass from the back wall to the front of the Bishops’ net in the early going, simply hoping to make something happen. His prayer was answered, as senior captain Cam Reed stuffed the puck inside the right post a second later to provide Catholic Memorial a 1-0 lead with 9:06 left in the first period.

Just 1:58 into the second stanza, Archbishop Williams was assessed a cross-checking penalty, and the Knights made the Bishops pay dearly 16 seconds later. After collecting a pass, junior defenseman James Baker tried a backhanded shot from the faceoff circle. Somehow, the attempt whistled into the netting in stunning fashion for a power-play goal, as Catholic Memorial seized a 2-0 advantage.

The Knights would extend their lead to 3-0 with 8:32 to play in the frame, as Dan Antonellis converted a highlight-reel penalty shot to send the West Roxbury faithful into a frenzy.

Even when Archbishop Williams appeared to be gaining momentum off a goal from Finn Kelly with 6:52 left in the frame, the Knights answered. Just 57 seconds later, Lincoln Hennessey sniped a shot in transition to push things back to 4-1, and his team wasn’t quite finished. Morgan Lenehan would tack on a goal before Hennnessy potted his second with 29.6 ticks to play in the period. By then, Catholic Memorial was in cruise control with a 6-1 edge.

Lenehan added two assists in the win for the Knights. Kelly finished with a pair of goals to propel Archbishop Williams.

Now the Knights will clash with a fellow juggernaut in the Final Four – Pope Francis.

“There’s a reason they were number one going into the tournament,” Rooney said. “They’re going to be really tough to beat. They have a really good goalie, they’re deep. They’re well coached, they’re the home team. They’re going to be tough to beat, but we’re going to be ready to play.”

👉 Click Here to read in detail 👈

Miatamil

Listed here the latest Trending News