MC shakes off slow start to beat Austin

SAUGUS – Chris Serino and Lou Finocchiaro are two of the names that are synonymous with hockey in the town of Saugus. Both men have their names all over banners that hang in Kasabuski Arena, and now they are coaches of two of the preeminent Division 1 programs in the state – Malden Catholic and Austin Prep.On Tuesday, in the Division 1 final of the Saugus Federal Credit Union Holiday Hockey Classic, Serino’s Lancers broke a scoreless tie in the second period and wound up cruising to a 5-1 win over the Cougars.”We didn’t play well in our end,” Serino said. “This was a good wake-up call for us going into conference play.”The Lancers (5-0-0) met their match for a while in Austin, which kept a high-flying offense under wraps for half the game. But a shorthanded goal by Craig Carbonneau midway through the second period brought the Lancers to life.”MC is a really good team,” Finocchiaro said. “And for the first period, I thought it was an evenly-matched game. But then we gave up a real sloppy goal on the power play and gave them some life.”The first period was dominated by the defenses as neither netminder, MC’s John Carbonneau and Austin’s Robbie Pappagianopoulos, saw many shots. Carbonneau made the period’s biggest save, stopping Bryan Wright’s breakaway bid following a turnover in the MC end.Pappagianopoulos saw only two shots in the first period, but that would change in the second as the Lancers outshot Austin, 12-0.But the senior was up to the challenge early, turning aside James Castrucci’s breakaway chance in the opening moments of the second. But Carbonneau took a Marc Adams pass on a shorthanded chance midway through the period and scored to make it 1-0 MC.That goal opened the floodgates. Just 90 seconds later, Castrucci put a Carbonneau rebound past Pappagianopoulos to make it 2-0 before Andrew Cerretani upped the gap to three goals when he crashed the net and scored on a rebound with 2:48 left.MC’s defense continued to put the handcuffs on Austin’s offense in the third, holding the Cougars to two shots on goal. Tony Serino ended any hope of an Austin comeback at 6:30 of the third, assisted by Mike Vecchione and Alex Minter.Carbonneau closed the MC scoring in the final minute with a power-play goal, assisted by Adams and Cerretani. Casey Miller broke up the shutout for Austin with 16 seconds left.