Prep posts Super 8 win over Central Catholic

NORTH ANDOVER – Surviving another sluggish start on Wednesday, the St. John’s Prep hockey team took a big step towards reaching the crossover round of the Division 1A tournament.Andrew Brandano scored twice, including the game-winner with 7:24 left in regulation, as the Eagles got past Central Catholic, 4-3, at Merrimack College’s Lawler Arena.The Eagles are now 2-0 in their round robin pool with one game left (vs. St. Mary’s at 7 p.m.) and would be guaranteed a spot in the semifinals if Springfield Cathedral beats the Raiders on Sunday afternoon. A Raider win and the winner of the Prep-SM game would move on with the loser being eliminated.”The guys never let up and we were able to come back and get a big goal in the third period,” Eagles coach Kristian Hanson said. “The kids played hard and stuck to the defensive system once we got ahead.”St. John’s was in danger of losing control of its own destiny when Mike Kelleher picked the pocket of a defender and scored a shorthanded goal at 4:45 of the third to tie the game at 3-3. But the Prep settled down almost immediately and charged back to the lead.Sam Kurker, who was a force all game long for the Prep, sent Brandano down the left wing and he was able to get Kyle Williams to leave just enough room beside the left post to sneak his shot from the left circle in.”Andrew has really emerged this year,” Hanson said. “It’s his first year on varsity and he’s one of those guys that has a knack for scoring around the net.”Central came close to sending the game to overtime but failed to get a couple of good chances past David LeTarte. Interestingly, Raiders coach Mike Jankowski elected not to pull Williams for an extra attacker in the final minute to help protect his team’s goal differential, one of the first tiebreakers.The Eagles started off slow as Central grabbed a 1-0 lead at 2:48 of the first when Alex Lester tapped home Lloyd Hayes’ cross-crease dish. St. John’s fought back midway through the first when Brandano redirected Kurker’s blast past Williams on a power play to tie the game at 1-1.Central then got a big chance when Brian Pinho and Nick Pandelena were called for boarding penalties, resulting in a lengthy 5-on-3. The Raiders didn’t waste much time as Ryan Daigle slid home a Nick Gorski rebound to make it 2-1 after a period.The Eagles were a different team at the outset of the second as it took a little over two minutes for them to knot things up. Third line winger Derek Osbahr cut to the slot and fired a shot that broke off Williams’ pads and trickled across the goal line at 2:06.Less than a minute later, the Raiders were shorthanded and the dangerous Prep power play was on the prowl.Kurker uncorked a cannon from the blue line that tipped off a Raider stick and past a helpless Williams for the BU-bound senior’s 29th goal of the season at 3:40.The Raiders picked up the pace after the go-ahead goal as they sternly tested LeTarte. But they couldn’t convert and it stayed 3-2 through two.