FILE PHOTO
Steve Santanello was one of the unlucky Swampscott hockey players who were robbed by Lowell goalie Patrick Cote Sunday night.
By SCOT COOPER
NORTH BILLERICA — After the best regular season in school history, the Swampscott High hockey team saw its hopes dashed for a long tournament run by a hungry Lowell team Sunday night, 3-2, at the Chelmsford Forum.
The Red Raiders knocked out the No. 1 seed with three power-play goals in a 3-2 victory in the semifinals of the Division 3 North playoffs.
The Blue spent close to 12 minutes in the penalty box, and playing shorthanded was one of the items in the pre-game talk by head coach Gino Faia.
“That certainly was one of the things we talked about before the game — staying disciplined and staying out of the box. And we didn’t stay out of the box,” Faia said.
“We had some chances but the week off didn’t help us, we were a little slow on the puck and a step behind at times.”
Winger Connor Barton scored the first two goals for Lowell and he said it was important to come out and score early against Swampscott, a team that beat them twice last winter.
“We wanted to come out early and score on them, and we were able to, I think our power play was really great tonight, and our team worked really hard to get this win,” Barton said. “Our coaches told us to come out and battle, play hard. That’s what they told us all season and we did that tonight.”
After a scoreless first, things heated up in the second when the Big Blue received four penalties. Barton sank his first goal with only 18 seconds gone in a four-minute power play, and he put another one home two minutes later for a 2-0 lead.
Lowell goalie Patrick Cote was solid when he had to be, making a great save on Steve Santanello and another great one on a chance in tight by Louis Olivieri.
“You had to shake your head at a couple of the saves that kid made, you don’t know how he made them but he made the saves when he had to,” Faia said.
Brett Benoit scored from Andrew Dove to make it 2-1 in the third, but the Red Raiders answered with another man up goal by Matt Asselin to make it 3-1.
Olivieri scored with the goalie pulled with 22 seconds left, but time had run out on the 17-4 Big Blue.
