LYNN — It’s not often you get twin brothers playing high school hockey together. That said, in Wednesday’s Division 1 state tournament game between No. 10 St. Mary’s and No. 23 Waltham, both Finn and Caleb Racki were heroes.
The game was knotted, 1-1, with overtime appearing inevitable. But with 22.2 seconds remaining in the third period, the puck fell to Finn and the junior forward ripped it into the back of the net for the game-winner.
Call it a 2-1 final. The Spartans advanced to the round of 16 to face No. 7 Arlington (Saturday at 1 p.m.).
“I couldn’t even process it,” Finn said. “We needed it… and they trust me out there.”
When asked what he was thinking as the puck fell to his stickblade, Finn said instincts kicked in.
“Coaches preach to us to shoot the puck on net every time,” Finn said. “Coach (Matthew Smith) has been putting it in my brain since I was 9 years old. Whipping is the first thing that comes to mind when I see the puck, so I just shot it when I saw it and it was a great opportunity.”
As for how the Spartans got there, look no further than when Finn found Caleb with 3:20 remaining in the first period (1-0).
“It’s a great experience. I was just ecstatic the way it happened. Finn passed it up to me in front of the net and I just buried the goal,” Caleb said. “It was great that my brother assisted it, which made it even better.”
It had been weeks since they scored in the same game, but their chemistry wasn’t in doubt, according to Finn.
“It’s been awhile (since scoring in the same game) – probably since half-season,” Finn said. “It’s just the chemistry out there. That rumor about telekinesis is right. You kind of think the same thing when we’re on the ice.”
Smith, who has coached the brothers since their Squirts days, couldn’t have been more proud.
“I thought Finn Racki had a great assist on his brother’s goal to open up the scoring,” Smith said. “I thought Finn had a great game today. He was all over the ice – buzzing. For that player who really worked his tail off tonight to get the game-winning goal was really awesome.”
For Smith, in just his second year helming the program, it was his first playoff win.
“Obviously it was exciting,” he said. “I was trying to be in the most calm place on the bench for the kids, not trying to get too high or too low.”
Although the lower seed, Waltham gave it everything it had and almost took the game to overtime. The Hawks had their chances, but St. Mary’s goalie Matthew Smith Jr. stood tall between the pipes.
“He’s a solid goaltender. They didn’t test him too much, but when they did, he made some big stops,” Smith said of his son.
Smith hopes to ride Wednesday’s momentum to the end of the tournament.
“Winning a game like this at the end of the game, now, anything can happen,” he said. “We’ve got a great group in there.”
