The season isn’t over yet for the No. 3 St. John’s Prep hockey team, as the Eagles cruised by St. John’s of Shrewsbury, 3-1, in the losers bracket quarterfinal of the Division 1A “Super 8” tournament at Chelmsford Forum on Saturday night. The win means the Prep will face off against No. 7 Pope Francis in the losers bracket semifinal.
Sophomore Brian Carrabes led the way for the Eagles with one goal and one assist, while senior captains Ryan Farrow and Tim Usalis each had one goal. Senior goalie Cam Ludwig had 18 saves in the win.
“I thought we came out really strong in the first period and got off to a good start,” said St. John’s coach Kristian Hanson. “Cam also played really well in net, which was huge for us. It was a great team win.”
The Eagles got off to exactly the start they wanted to, lighting the lamp just over three minutes into the game. After earning an early powerplay, Usalis stole a clearing attempt and got a wide open shot from the slot, burying a wrist shot to take a 1-0 lead.
The Pioneers had a couple of good scoring chances as the first period came to a close, but Ludwig closed the door on both of them.
The Prep took a 2-0 lead about midway through the second period, and it all came as a result of hard work from Carrabes. After a nifty move to gain control of the puck, Carrabes flew into the offensive zone and fired a shot on net. The shot rattled off the facemask of Pioneers goalie Corey Splaine and bounced right back to Carrabes, who had the presence of mind to stop and knock the puck into the net for the goal.
Once again the Pioneers had a golden opportunity later in the period, this time with a 5-on-3 powerplay for over a minute. But once again, the Eagles stood tall with a great penalty kill and kept St. John’s Shrewsbury off the scoreboard.
The Eagles effectively put the game out of reach about halfway through the third period. This time Carrabes sent a perfect pass to Farrow, who was waiting in the right circle and buried a wrist shot to make it 3-0.
Dhillon Wilde scored for the Pioneers to make it 3-1 with just under four minutes to play, but that was as close as they came.
The win guarantees that the Prep is one of the final four teams remaining in the Super 8 tournament. Next up on the docket is Pope Francis, who is coming off of an impressive win over No. 1 Central Catholic to keep its own season alive.
“I think they should be considered the third-best team in the state, and we know how good they are,” Hanson said of the Cardinals. “We’ll have to come with our best game if we want to win on Monday night.”
The Eagles will drop the puck with Pope Francis at 5:30 this evening at the Tsongas Center in Lowell.
