Back-to-back CCL championships for St. Mary’s boys hockey

LYNN – Since losing 5-1 to Malden Catholic in its season opener, the St. Mary’s boys hockey team has been on a tear and on Wednesday at Connery Rink, the Spartans paid off that play with a title.Tim Aylward had two goals and an assist while Cam O’Neill had a goal and an assist as the Spartans defeated Arlington Catholic, 3-1, to claim their second consecutive Catholic Central League/Large title.”I am so proud of this team,” St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee said after his team made it 17 straight games without a loss. “We struggled at times (Wednesday) and didn’t have our ‘A’ game but as they’ve done all year, they never stopped working and deserve this championship.”Sophomore goalie Bailey MacBurnie came up with one of his best performances of the season, turning aside 23 of 24 shots he faced, including a save on a second-period breakaway after the Spartans (15-1-2, 8-0-1) had just taken the lead.”Bailey has played so well for us all season,” Lee said. “And you can’t win at this level without a goaltender like him.”The Spartans got a challenge from a young and talented AC (8-5-3, 5-2-1) team that generated several quality scoring chances but couldn’t cash them in.”I thought that we really came to play (Wednesday),” Cougars coach Dan Shine said. “We had some chances and didn’t finish them off. We’re such a young team that sometimes you don’t finish like you want to.”The Spartans looked early on like they were ready to blow AC right off the ice as it took a little under four minutes for St. Mary’s to grab the lead when Aylward one-timed home an O’Neill pass on the power play.AC, though, steadied itself and began to take the play to the Spartans as the period wore on. MacBurnie came up with a couple of big saves on Brendon O’Connell power play bids late in the period to keep it 1-0 after one.Early in the second, the Spartans were tagged for two penalties on one shift and the Cougars made them pay almost immediately as freshman Michael Snow fired home O’Connell’s pass from the right post and the game was tied less than three minutes in.”When you play for a championship, you’re going to see what you’re made of,” Lee said. “And when they scored, I didn’t see much change on the bench.”Special teams would come to the forefront again when the Cougars put St. Mary’s on the power play midway through the game and set the stage for a highlight reel goal.O’Neill took an Aylward pass in full stride at the Spartan line and proceeded to skate through three defenders before ripping a shot past Shawn Ray for a 2-1 lead.”The kids didn’t panic when they tied it and they stayed the course nicely,” Lee said.In front for the second time on the night, St. Mary’s set about protecting its lead with a swarming defense in front of MacBurnie. And the strategy worked as the Cougars would manage only five shots over the final 15 minutes.Aylward then delivered the knockout punch with 4:16 left when Andrew Markham’s shot bounced off an AC stick and found the tape of the junior for his 10th goal of the year.”St. Mary’s has had a tremendous season,” Shine said. “They are very well coached and are going to be a force for a while.”