Catholic Memorial ousts Malden Catholic in Super Eight semis

LOWELL – It might be hard to fathom, but Catholic Memorial was the underdog (yes, that’s not a misprint) entering Wednesday’s Super Eight semifinal game against Malden Catholic at Tsongas Arena.With a lineup that was without leading scorer Derek Collucci, forward Billy Carey and goaltender Ryan Hubbard, the Knights weren’t exactly expected to give Malden Catholic a challenge.Rule No. 1: Never underestimate CM in the Super 8 tourney.The kings of the tournament once again showed their prowess for March hockey as T.J. O’Brien had a hat trick and Frank Tierney scored twice to lead the Knights to their first Division 1A final since 2006 with a 6-4 win over the Lancers and a date at TD BankNorth Garden against Burlington/Winchester on Sunday.”To get back to the final with this group, this unlikely group, it’s really special,” CM coach Bill Hanson said. “Most of the kids out there (Wednesday), like Tierney, who had two goals, who probably didn’t play 10 or 11 games. The kids are going out there and getting it done.”It was a night of missed opportunities for the Lancers, who failed in their bid to make a second straight Super Eight final. Despite controlling the play for most of the night and putting 39 shots on CM goalie Tommy Knox, MC simply couldn’t buy a goal when it desperately needed one.The best example of those frustrations was Knox’s miraculous save on Craig Carbonneau with 1:25 left in regulation. After defenseman Mark Adams jumped in the play and beat a Knights defender to create a 2-on-0 situation, he slid a pass across to Carbonneau for what looked to be the tying goal.But here came Knox out of nowhere to make a right pad save and deny the Lancers a shot at overtime.”It’s a hard game to explain,” MC coach Chris Serino said. “We did everything but put the puck in the net at the end. We forechecked well, moved the puck well and just couldn’t buy one.”From the way things started it looked like the Lancers were going to have an easy time of it, scoring twice in the opening 3:36.James Castucci got MC going 1:36 in when he picked up an Adams pass and snapped a wrist shot past Knox from the high slot. Two minutes later, defenseman Greg Crovo sent Mike Vecchione and Carbonneau in for a 2-on-1 chance.Vecchione slid a perfect pass across the slot and Carbonneau snapped home his 16th goal of the season to make it 2-0.The Lancers (18-4-2) continued to dominate the period but an ill-advised turnover in the final seconds gave CM (13-5-4) a bit of life. Troy Starrett intercepted a pass at the blue line and fed a pass to T.J. O’Brien at the right crease with 16.4 seconds left to make it 2-1 after one.”That definitely was a significant goal at the end of the period because we hadn’t done anything to that point,” Hanson said. “We got a little lucky.”O’Brien’s goal proved to be the first in what became a flurry of goals that put the Knights ahead for good. Knox came up big at the start of the second, stoning Tony Serino’s power play tip attempt in the early going.O’Brien then tied the game at 2-2 when his slap shot broke off the pads of Ryan DiMare and went in. Just over a minute later, defenseman Marc Hetnik made a perfect pass to Tierney, who went to the net and scored to give CM a 3-2 lead.The Lancers kept coming and looked to have tied the game with 8:20 left in the period, but a whistle in the crease nullified a goal.Then, with 5:49 left in the second, Dan Cornell scored on a third CM chance from point blank during a flurry in front of DiMare to make it 4-2. Carbonneau, however, would give MC a bit of a boost late in the period when he won a face-off back to Adams and then tipped home the ensuing shot from the right point.Justin Sensabaugh came close to tying the game early in the third, but he rang the right post with a shot from the point. Moments later, Tierney struck again when he swept home the rebound of Garrett Noonan’s shot on a 2-on-1 chance.Just over two minutes later, Vecchione finished off a perfect passing play with Sensab