Archbishop Williams 4, Westford 4

Friday night’s Cape Cod Cup semifinal against Westford Academy will go down in the books as a 4-4 tie for the Archbishop Williams boys’ hockey team, but coach Derackk Curtis knows it was much more than that.Trailing the Ghosts, 4-2, entering the final minute of regulation at the Falmouth Ice Arena, the No. 8 Bishops were in danger of losing their first game of the season. But with his team’s goalie pulled, senior Nick Menzel pulled off the comeback by scoring twice in the final 48.5 seconds.For MIAA purposes, the game officially ended in a 4-4 tie, but the teams went to a five-minute overtime to decide who would move on to the Cape Cod Cup championship. Midway through the extra frame, senior Mike Davis scored to send Archbishop Williams into Saturday’s final against Chelmsford.“It was a good character-builder,” Curtis said. “I think last year we lose that game 5-2.”After a scoreless first period, Westford scored three times in the second period.Menzel answered for the Bishops (2-0-1) and playing his first game, sophomore Cullen Lyne also scored to make it a 3-2 deficit before the period finished.The Ghosts scored a fourth goal in the final period to take their third two-goal lead of the game, but Archbishop Williams wouldn’t go away.“We felt confident the whole game, we just weren’t executing,” Curtis said. “[Westford goalie Kyle Martin] stood on his head. We didn’t play to our full potential, but we never hung our heads.”Menzel scored his second goal of the game on a 6-on-5 with 48.5 seconds left in regulation to make it a one-goal game. He completed the hat trick and secured a point for the Bishops when he scored again with 25 seconds remaining.“A loss would have been devastating for us,” Curtis said. “It was good to get the point.”

»Westford schedule/results

»Archbishop Williams schedule/results