3/4/01
St. Sebastian's, on the strength of a third period goal by John Toffey and stellar goaltending by Dave Cacciola, took the 2001 New England prep title with a 1-0 win over traditional powerhouse Cushing Academy in a classic up-and-down game before roughly 2,000 fans at the Icenter in Salem, N.H. this afternoon.
The winning goal came at the 3:15 mark of the third period when St. Sebastian's nifty freshman winger Joe Rooney swung behind the Cushing net and passed it out front to Toffey, who banged it past Penguins' junior goaltender Michael Boudreau for the game's only goal.
"I was backdoor," Toffey said afterward, "and no D was near me. He (Rooney) got it to me and I just fired it home."
Cacciola, named the tournament's most valuable player by USHR, faced a number of high-quality shots from Cushing's snipers, including a highlight film glove save on a Danny Murphy blast from the slot with 3:12 remaining.
"I just got in a groove today and I was 'feeling it,'" said a beaming Cacciola, "but I can't take all the credit: my teammates played really well in front of me."
Asked if he were at all nervous, Cacciola said, "Sure, before the game, but once I got out there I felt good."
As the final score indicates, this was a game in which defense dominated and, while St. Seb's captain Noah Welch was immense all weekend, every one of the Arrows defensemen were superb. So, too, were Cushing's. As a matter of fact, this typist can't remember a prep matchup that featured such a deep group of blueliners.
If there was a single difference in the game it came in the fact that St. Sebastian's not only attempted more high-quality plays, but completed them. A high-skilled team that seemed to gain confidence as the game went along, the Arrows did a good job using the full length and width of the Olympic sheet here.
Rooney, a 5'8" freshman from Canton, Mass. was a catalyst for St. Sebastian's, early on headmanning a couple of nice passes to send Toffey in alone, playing a gritty, physical game, and then, later, with the pressure rising with each shift, cooly setting up the big third period goal.
St. Sebastian's played a poised, confident game, never once going into a stretch where they allowed Cushing to get any truly sustained attack going.
"Before the game," Welch said, "I told the team 'Don't go on the ice today unless you're one hundred percent confident you can beat these guys.' The first period was huge because we really proved to ourselves that we could hang with them."
St. Sebastian's coach Steve Dagdigian gave credit for the win to strong team defense. "There are a lot of talented players here," he said, "and they're students of the game, too." It was a necessary combination to go into the game with, said Dagdigian, because Cushing has such a solid lineup. "They keep coming at you wave after wave. They're quick. They move the puck beautifully. They're just a fantastic team."
With the win, of course, the New England prep title returns to the Keller Division for the first time since Belmont Hill won it 11 years ago.
And for Cushing, the loss was its first of the season. In addition to not winning the title, their dreams of becoming one of the few select prep teams to ever run the table went up in smoke as well as well.
"It's very painful," said Cushing coach Steve Jacobs afterward. "But we faced a team that was playing outstanding hockey. We knew it would be a one-goal game. But every time we felt like we had it going, they would come back and fight us off. It was really two great teams going at it. I felt we lacked energy at times, and weren't quite clicking.
"Of course," he added, "they (St. Sebastian's) had a lot to do with that."
Jacobs was asked if going into the title game with an undefeated season on the line created an undue amount of pressure for his team.
"I don't think so," he said. "I think we're used to pressure. It (the undefeated streak) was something we never talked about. What we talked about was winning a championship."
In that department, Cushing came up short, but not by much. Right now, the hour belongs to St. Sebastian's, a program that's been carefully nurtured by Dagdigian and his staff for the past couple of years, and finally came of age today.
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--- In the Division II title game, Tilton got a pair of goals from B.J. Pelkey and a goal and an assist from Eric Frank to knock off Williston-Northampton. Junior A.J. Bucchino picked up the shutout for Tilton, while Mike Waldlich, Williston's junior goaltender, came up with a big performance in a losing effort, keeping the game from turning into a full-fledged rout.... Earlier, in the East-West Senior All-Star Game, the East, behind big outings from Exeter's Tom Cavanagh (3g) and Lawrence Academy's Ryan Stevens (1g,3a), topped the West, 7-3.
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