BRAINTREE — The play is never truly over.
It’s now a life lesson that Andrew Gaffney will be preaching forever. The senior forward buried the game-clinching goal in double overtime Wednesday, as 16th-ranked Braintree opened the Div. 1 boys hockey tournament with a wild 4-3 victory over No. 17 Marshfield in the Round of 32.
“It worked in our favor tonight,” said Braintree coach Dave Fasano. “I think it was a great high school hockey game in front of a packed house. We got that break at the end.”
Playing in front of a raucous home crowd at the Zap, Braintree (10-9-2) fed off the energy in the early stages. After playing through a physical first few minutes, Dylan Curtin gave his team an early 1-0 lead with 7:46 left in the opening period. Exactly four minutes later, Matt Harvey continued his epic season, sniping twine from the blue line as Braintree took a 2-0 advantage into the first intermission.
Maybe the ice was slanted. As soon as the second period commenced, Marshfield (15-7-1) took over the tempo. Junior center Ben Berian potted his 12th goal of the season with 10:56 left in the stanza. The Rams quickly capitalized with a power-play goal just 1:25 afterward, as junior defenseman Jonathan Sullivan scored to knot things at 2-all.
With just under five minutes to go in the period, Sean Canavan exorcised his own demons. After being robbed during a breakaway minutes earlier, the senior forward had a second opportunity, converting off a backhanded shot in transition to make put his team back in front, 3-2.
“We talked to them in the locker room,” Fasano said. “They’re going to make a push. If it gets to that point, how are we going to respond? We came right back, and we made it 3-2 when they tied it. It could have went the other way very quickly, but credit to the seniors, and there’s a lot of seniors on this team … a lot of teams might have went the other way, but we got right back.”
As the third period progressed, play leveled out, and the Rams found life on the man-advantage. After drawing a penalty, junior forward Brendan McLaughlin buried the equalizer with 8:15 remaining to force the game into an extra set of sessions.
During the second overtime, Harvey fed a pass in transition to Gaffney. The senior took off on a breakaway, only to be denied on the doorstep by Marshfield goaltender Liam Fullam. However, his teammates recovered, and fired another shot on net. This time, Gaffney was in the precise spot at the right time, slipping the puck home for the game-winner as fans swarmed the glass in celebration.
Gaffney might just have a flare for the dramatic. It was the third straight season in which the senior has won a postseason game in a such a fashion.
“I’ve been going on breakaways since I was 3 years old,” Gaffney said. “I know when the goalie comes out like that, you’ve got to make a move. Goalie made a good save, but I knew the play wasn’t over. It’s three-on-three hockey, there’s a lot of ice out there. Matt Harvey, again, picked the puck up, got a good shot and hit the post. I was just right there to bury it home. It was unreal.”