St. Mary’s boys dominate Central Catholic but fall in OT shootout

NORTH ANDOVER – Nobody saw this coming. With two of the state’s top statistical goalies – St. Mary’s sophomore Bailey MacBurnie and Central Catholic senior Kyle Williams – squaring off, the No. 2 Spartans and No. 10 Raiders needed a shootout to settle Sunday afternoon’s Division 1A Tournament game at Lawler Arena.The goalies ultimately decided the game and the MVC/DCL Large kingpin Raiders (14-3-5) prevailed, 6-5, snapping St. Mary’s 21-game unbeaten streak. Central’s fourth shooter, Steven Merrick, netted the lone shootout goal when he beat MacBurnie low. The Catholic Central Large champion Spartans (18-2-3) came up empty against Williams, aided by iron as both Nikko Markham and Jarrod Fitzpatrick hit the crossbar. Markham also hit a post in the OT session thoroughly dominated by the Spartans, who controlled play for long stretches and finished with a 41-21 shot advantage.”I’m very proud of how we played. We certainly played well enough to win and I thought we controlled the overtime. I’ve got nothing but positive things to say. It came down to two terrific goalies. Williams is one of the best goalies around and we knew that. And, I thought Bailey was outstanding in the shootout,” said Spartans coach Mark Lee.The Raiders spent the majority of the first period in their own end but got the early jump by converting a neutral zone turnover into a 2-on-0 break that Michael Hovnanien finished with a backhander through MacBurnie’s 5-hole just 1:26 into the game.Following three unsuccessful power plays, including a two-man advantage of 54 seconds, St. Mary’s drew even with 2:29 left. Senior Tim Aylward created space at the left dot with an outside wiggle around a Central defender before beating Williams high to the glove side.Central regained the lead in the first minute of the second period when Zach Cote freed the puck along the right wall and found Mike Kelleher unmarked in the high slot. Kelleher floated left before snapping a shot over MacBurnie’s glove for a 2-1 lead at 34 seconds.The Spartans tied it at 3:19 when Brendan Mageary beat Williams high to the glove side from the slot, completing a three-shot flurry triggered by Bobby Mullins’ close-range bid seven seconds earlier. Mullins then provided St. Mary’s first lead at 4:57, depositing Cam Grenham’s rebound into the open right side.Undeterred, Central made the Spartans pay for sloppy in-zone play with eight minutes left in the period. Cote deflected a clearing pass directly to Kelleher, whose diagonal delivery from the right wall set up Ryan Daigle’s easy finish into a wide-open left side. It remained tied after two as MacBurnie swallowed up Cote’s close-range shot with 2:56 left in the period and St. Mary’s Connor Parent found iron to Williams’ glove side with 26 seconds remaining.Under assault early in the third period, Central grabbed a 4-3 lead with 10:59 to play when Alex Lester disrupted a St. Mary’s breakout at the offensive blue line, resulting in Corey Webber’s rebound strike over MacBurnie’s glove. When Christian Smith deflected Nick Gorski’s shot from the right point for a power play goal with 9:33 to play, the Raiders seemed in good shape.The Spartans wouldn’t buckle. Fitzpatrick’s fancy maneuvering behind the net yielded Mageary’s 5-hole finish from the left side with 8:09 remaining.The equalizer came with 2:53 to play when Tommy Braswell drove the net and deposited the rebound of Connor Parent’s 2-on-1 bullet from the right circle into the open cage. That left it to the keepers to decide matters.”You know, hats off to Central – they worked their tails off. It was a great high school playoff game. We’ll regroup and we’ll learn from those turnovers we gave up,” Lee said.The Spartans face No. 6 Springfield Cathedral Wednesday night (Merrimack, 5:30) in a game critical to their 1A chances.