BILLERICA — For the first time in program history, the Dedham High boys hockey team is headed to Causeway Street.
The Marauders left no doubt about their TD Garden dreams on Saturday night. After a scoreless first period at the Chelmsford Forum, No. 6 Dedham blitzed No. 10 Hudson in a five-goal salvo in the second period to skate to a 5-0 victory in the Div. 4 Final Four.
Hudson, which took down No. 2 Hanover in the Elite 8, ends its season at 19-3-2. Catapulted by a two-goal second period by Tim Holton — including a short handed dagger with one second left — and a 22-save shutout by Noel Adams, Dedham handed Hudson its first blanking of the season to secure a bid to the state final against the winner of No. 1 Stoneham versus No. 5 Winthrop.
“They’re on fire in that locker room right now,” Dedham head coach Dan Panciocco said. “They’re on fire. They want to play tomorrow. I’m proud of them.”
A first period that yielded a scoreless 15 minutes and a 9-9 draw in shots on goal projected a low scoring affair with tight-checking on both ends of the ice.
But the second period was flipped on its head, as Dedham (15-8-0) tapped into its deep scoring offense to stun the Hawks. Panciocco said he wasn’t pleased with the first period performance, leaning on his class of eight seniors to right the ship.
“They said, ‘Coach, we got this.’ And I let them do it,” Panciocco said. “All year they’ve been doing that. We came out and we were on fire.”
Larrabee ignited the outburst, flicking a puck top shelf in the slot with 10:39 left in the period. The floodgates were open. Stamm jammed in a rebound just 21 seconds later to double Dedham’s advantage before Holton wristed a puck off the iron and into the net at the 5:44 mark.
“To be honest, I knew that no person on that team could keep up with me,” Holton said. “So I just made my way, walked through the ice and casually scored that.”
Following a net front tap-in by Laughter with 1:12 on the clock, Holton converted a rebound on the penalty kill with just one second showing on the scoreboard.
“That would be a killer on us, so I’m sure it hurt them,” Panciocco said.
Dedham skated to a 11-3 shots on goal advantage in the final period as the Marauders could start to taste their first trip to the Garden in history.
Holton said he’s never skated on TD Garden ice. He added that “it’s kind of crazy to think about right now.”
Maybe. But it was never a fever dream for Dedham, which believed in Saturday’s result since the Monday after Thanksgiving.
“Right at day one, we thought we were going all the way,” Holton said. “We had that energy and we came prepared every game … we’re feeling great right now.”