LOWELL - At Catholic Memorial, there's a bottom line and you either meet it or miss it: the Super 8 championship.
CM captured 12 championships in the tournament's first 15 years, so it's not merely hoped for, it's anticipated.
For three years, Bill Hanson's club has been in a drought, having seen archrival BC High twice hoist the crown before Reading, the first public champion in the tournament's history, did the honors last year.
Sunday at TD Banknorth Garden, the Knights will be back with a vengeance to face Burlington, which defeated Winchester, 1-0, last night. After a topsy-turvy 6-4 semifinal victory over Malden Catholic last night at Tsongas Arena in the crossover round, Hanson and his crew can exhale for a few days.
"Since I've been on the team my freshman year, we haven't been there," said junior T.J. O'Brien, who collected a hat trick last night. "It feels good for the seniors to get there. It's been a while."
CM appeared lifeless in the first period, as a pair of quick MC goals seemed to be the start of something big for the Lancers. James Castucci and Craig Carbonneau provided the goals, both of which came in the first four minutes.
But the Knights (13-5-4) cut the lead in half with 16 seconds to go in the period. O'Brien, who finished off a two-on-one pass from Troy Starrett, changed the momentum.
He tied the score on a blast four minutes into the second period, then Frank Tierney (two goals) followed a minute later, stuffing the puck in from the right corner.
"I get more mad at T.J. than I do at any other player on the team," Hanson said. "Because he goes through periods when you think he's dogging it, but he's not. Right now, he's our money player. He's our go-to guy as far as scoring goes."
Dan Cornell added to the fun, converting his own rebound with 5:49 left in the second. The floodgates had been opened, and it was CM's game to lose.
"It was a fast game; there was a lot of transition," O'Brien said. "We had to get ready to get back on defense too, and we did a good job of doing that late. We got it done."
MC (17-5-2) wasn't ready to quit, as Mark Adams, seconds after having a goal overturned, responded off a faceoff with a score from the blue line to the cut the CM lead to 4-3.
The Knights responded again, as Tierney got an open look at the net off a rebound and promptly slapped one home two minutes into the final period. MC continued to give itself chances, as Mike Vecchione scored at 10:40 in the third.
CM sophomore goaltender Tommy Knox (35 saves) withstood the pressure, however, blocking a Carbonneau shot after a two-on-none rush with 1:28 to go.
"I look at my team and I ask, 'What else could have we done?' " said MC coach Chris Serino, whose team lost to Reading in the final last year. "We shot the puck, we went to the net, and we had two called back. I thought we played really hard. We worked the forecheck well. We just couldn't get any luck."
