By BRIAN ROACH
LOWELL – After struggling and battling back from two goal deficits twice, St. John’s Prep earned a spot in the Super 8 semi-finals for the second straight season as it tries to defend its title from last season.
On a breakway chance just 1:50 into the second overtime, junior Kyle Hentosh scored off an assist from Christian Kukas to lift No. 4 St. John’s Prep over No. 5 Burlington, 5-4, at Tsongas Center last night. The Eagles advance with a 2-0 series win after winning the first contest 6-1 Sunday.
“I saw him going in and he is pretty good on breakaways,” said Eagles head coach Kris Hanson. “I saw the puck go in and what a relief it was for us.”
Hentosh also scored the first goal for the Eagles on the power play to tie the game 1-1 in the first and assisted on a Tim Usalis tally to make it a 3-2 deficit in the second.
With St. John’s Prep (16-2-4) entering the third period trailing 4-2, the Eagles were able to tally two goals in the final frame. The first came on a shot for Josh Cole off assists from Hentosh and Danny Tighe to make it a 4-3 hole. A goal from Billy Falter knotted the game 4-4 at the 10:36 mark to force overtime.
“Any time you are down two goals entering the third period of a Super 8 game and you come back and win in overtime, it is a testament of your team’s character.” Hanson said. “They never quit.”
Kyle Martin made huge stops throughout the contest, but made some crucial saves heading into a scoreless overtime and on a breakway for the Red Devils in the second OT just before the game-winner from Hentosh. In total, Martin made 30 saves on the night.
“(Martin) made some big saves late,” said Hanson. “And that’s what we expect out of Kyle.”
In the first period, Burlington (17-4-3) got two goals from Anthony Nikolopoulos, including a power play goal just 3:08 into the first to make it 1-0. His second made it a 2-1 lead with just over five minutes left in the first on a one-time effort off passes from Josh Boulos and Shane O’Halloran.
The Red Devils increased its lead to 3-1 on a breakaway chance against the goalie for Kyle Forrester with 7:11 left in the second. A rebound goal for Boulos off assists from Nikolopoulos and Tommy Hanafin made it 4-2 with just 38 seconds to go in the middle frame.
“Number one, the credit goes to Burlington tonight,” Hanson said. “They were a determined team and they had a lot on the line.”
“They could have easily won this game.”