St. John’s Prep hockey gets some consolation vs. Hingham

LOWELL – The St. John’s Prep hockey team escaped the indignity of going winless in the Division 1A tournament yesterday, taking a 4-2 decision over Hingham.The win didn’t matter as far as the final standings go. The Prep was already eliminated Friday, after Malden Catholic defeated the Harbormen in a shootout Friday night. Had Hingham won that game, it would have set up a situation yesterday where three of the teams on The Prep’s end of the round robin could have finished with 1-2 records. The MIAA would have then used a complicated tiebreaker to determine the second team to advance.The Prep’s top line of Colin Prior, Danny Haugh, and Christian Cowles scored all four of the Eagles’ goals.St. John’s, which was seeded third behind Hingham in the tournament, got the jump on the Harbormen with a three-goal first period. Haugh drove home a Christian Cowles rebound just 23 seconds into the game to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.After Hingham’s Cam Spiro scored an unassisted goal to tie it at 1-1 at 4:28, Prior tapped in a feed from Cowles with 6:48 left in the period to give St. John’s a 2-1 lead.Cowles finally got one, with assists from Haugh and Prior, to give St. John’s a 3-1 lead at 13:48.The Prep effectively put the game away at 14:11 of the second period, with Prior scoring a shorthanded goal, with an assist from Cowles.Hingham’s Brendan Wilbur closed out the scoring at 9:21 of the third period.This is the second straight disappointing conclusion in the Super 8 tournament for The Prep, which fell to BC High on the last day of the round robin last year, even though BC High didn’t need the win to advance. It is also the second straight year The Prep has gone 1-2 in the three round-robin games.Malden Catholic and Xaverian will advance to the semifinals on The Prep’s side of the bracket.On the other side, Catholic Memorial scored a 3-2 overtime win over BC High to eliminate the defending champion and advance to the semifinals, which will be played Wednesday at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell.