Rockets get fired up
Lancers cruise past Burlington
LOWELL - After being shut out in their opening Super 8 games, Xaverian and Needham needed strong bounce-back efforts last night at Tsongas Arena.
When the dust settled, the Rockets had responded, securing a 3-1 win.
"We were disappointed in our effort last time out," said Needham coach Bill Guisti. "Tonight we got a good effort from the whole squad and all three lines contributed."
Needham opened the scoring with a goal from its third line. Derek Moody redirected a John Doisneau shot from the point at 13:16 of the first period.
"The first goal fired up everyone," said Needham forward Sam Kane. "It was great to get one from the third line. It helps when everyone contributes."
Kane would use that momentum to get in on the act in the second. He collected the puck in the offensive zone, made a move to get around a check, then beat Kyle MacDonald five-hole to put the Rockets up, 2-0, at 6:06.
Xaverian narrowed the deficit at 7:59 of the third when Andrew White found the back of the net off a pretty drop pass from Matt Hennessey.
"I told our guys that this was just a bad time to go into a scoring drought," said Hawks coach Dave Spinale. "We have played six periods and don't have a goal from our forwards. It has just been bad bounces or shooting wide of the net."
The Rockets added insurance with 2:36 remaining when they caught a Xaverian defenseman in a bad pinch. Michael Cox brought the puck into the zone on a three-on-one and passed to Kam Bumpus, who dropped a pass to Kane. He then found Cox backdoor for a score.
The win put Needham back in the race for the crossover round, but the Rockets must face second-seeded Malden Catholic tomorrow.
"Hopefully, we can come out hard and find a way to beat Malden [Catholic] for the second time in two weeks," said Guisti. "They are a very good team."
Malden Catholic 5, Burlington 1 - Craig Carbonneau scored twice to power the Lancers.
"We played pretty good again," said Malden Catholic coach Chris Serino. "The key to the game tonight was using our speed to get into position on the forecheck and then we used the body to get the puck."
Malden Catholic got on the board quickly when Alex Minter tallied off assists from Tony Serino and Andrew Cerretani 4:50 into the game.
The Lancers kept the pressure up throughout the first, beating Burlington goalie Ben Irwin twice more.
Malden Catholic went up, 2-0, at 5:19 when Carbonneau found Mike Vecchione on a two-on-one for a pretty goal.
The lead reached 3-0 with 2:29 remaining in the period when Joe Zingarelli scored, assisted by Brett Biondo and Brendan Collier.
Carbonneau got the first of his two goals halfway through the second period to make it 4-0, and connected again early in the third.
Burlington finally beat Malden Catholic goalie John Carbonneau when Kevin O'Neil struck at 3:21 of the third.
"The third period was vital for us," said Burlington coach Bob Conceison. "We knew that we still have a game [tomorrow], so we wanted to get some momentum going for that game."
