Prep defeats frustration, Woburn

WILMINGTON – Like his St. John’s Prep teammates, Brian Pinho was feeling frustrated in Saturday afternoon’s game against Woburn.”I wasn’t scoring,” said the Providence College-bound senior. “I had a few chances and wasn’t putting it in the net. My role on the team is to produce offense, so I wanted to do that.”On top of that, Pinho had what would have been an important insurance goal late in the second period waved off by a quick whistle.Despite dominating the Tanners for vast stretches of the contest, a three-goal advantage shrunk to one with undisciplined special teams play. Fortunately, the Prep pulled together and Pinho found the mark with 24 seconds left to play to finish off a 4-2 victory.Pinho’s goal epitomized a night where he was a pest from end to end for the Eagles (now 3-1). He closed behind a Woburn defenseman and swiped the puck in the offensive zone. Spinning all alone to the net, he whipped a backhander past the blocker of goalie Jeremy Flibotte (28 saves) and into the right side of the net.”I wanted to score a goal before the end, but to be honest I thought it was a lucky shot,” said Pinho. “But it felt good.””I thought Brian was the best player on the ice for both teams,” said Eagles head coach Kristian Hanson. “Maybe he tries to do a little bit too much but clearly he’s a tremendously gifted player. It just takes one shot to tie the game so that was a big goal.”As a team, St. John’s seemed to be doing too much – passing instead of shooting, overpursuing the puck, working hard but losing its discipline. That freed up sophomores Nicholas Baldino and Kyle Flaherty for power-play goals within two minutes of each other to get Woburn (3-1-1) back into the game.”Some of our best players are on the penalty kill,” said Hanson. “Instead of knowing your role, they’re trying to score goals, they’re looping around.”On (Woburn’s) last goal, (Flaherty) was uncontested on the point. If he’s defended, maybe he chips the puck to the corner or something. I don’t want guys scoring shorthanded. I want to keep them from scoring.”Luckily for Hanson, the Eagles had soared to a big lead.Four minutes into the game, Jack McCarthy’s perfect cross-ice pass set up junior Tyler Bird for a deke and tuck into the open right side of the cage. Three minutes later, fourth-line winger Paul Crehan’s hard work in the corner set up a Justin Longo wrister that Flibotte slowed down but didn’t stop, rolling to center Cam Shaheen for an easy poke-in. And in the second period, Longo took a Shaheen pass and whipped a perfect shot over the shoulder of a partially screened Flibotte.”On a lot of teams, they could be a second line,” said Hanson. “Paul’s a grinder and they do a good job of cycling the puck.”If you lose or tie (Saturday), not only in the standings does it hurt but mentally it hurts you, too. We found a way to win, and down the road games like this are what you draw on (to stay successful).”