Much of the conversation in the BC High boys hockey team’s locker room over the last week has centered on closing out the final leg of the regular season strong after bouncing around .500 over its first 12 games.
Head coach John Flaherty couldn’t be more pleased with what he saw Thursday, then, as the No. 12 Eagles (6-5-2) gritted out a 2-0 win over No. 7 Xaverian at Canton Ice House to snap the red-hot Hawks’ four-game win streak, and knock them out of the Catholic Conference title race.
Nolan O’Sullivan and Chris Brennick scored in the second and third periods, respectively, backing a 27-save shutout from sophomore Drew Karlovits, and a 4-for-4 success rate on the penalty kill.
Xaverian rallied from down 2-0 to tie BC High, 3-3, in the rivals’ first meeting on Jan. 12. Not this time.
“I think this was a great statement win for us to jump off what we hope to be (in) the second half of the season,” Flaherty said. “It’s a great lift for us because of who it was against. Those guys are coming off four in a row, beating the best teams. … For us to be able to beat them, that gives us that boost to say, ‘You know what, we can – which we know we can – we can skate with anybody, we’ve just got to play our game.’ ”
Hawks goalie Michael Bulkin (32 saves) showed off plenty of what helped anchor Xaverian in consecutive wins over Malden Catholic, Catholic Memorial, Central Catholic and St. John’s Prep entering the matchup – a stretch the program allowed only two total goals in. Nearly half of the senior’s saves in this one came in the second period, doing his best to keep Xaverian in the game.
He succeeded, though the Eagles got one past him with 6:21 left in the second period. Brennick broke his stick on a shot from the top of the left circle, and the slow, wide shot was redirected in at the post by O’Sullivan for the 1-0 lead.
“It’s a huge goal,” Flaherty said. “It’s what we talked about. You need traffic, you need pucks to the cage. It’s a tip, it’s a redirect.”
The advantage came less than a minute after BC High killed off Xaverian’s second power play, which it went on to do another two times the rest of the way. Pair that with Brennick’s power-play goal 1:24 into the third period for a dominant showing on special teams.
“(The) PK was great, they got too much use for my heart, but they did the job,” Flaherty said. “Those guys are very good at their job. They kept shots toward the outside, they limited second and third chances. They’re good with their feet and they’re active with their sticks. … Especially with two close teams, special teams comes down a long way.”
A stellar job holding off Xaverian while a man-down continued over the last 2:17, with BC High maintaining its lead after the Hawks pulled Bulkin for a 6-on-5 advantage. Xaverian banged on the door like it had all game by winning faceoffs and getting pucks on him quick, but Karlovits remained steady.
“He’s a young kid with a lot of composure,” Flaherty said. “There was not a lot of wasted movement. He tracked the puck well, he tied the puck up. … That’s when he’s on his best, when he’s zeroed in, he’s making the saves and not giving up rebounds, and that’s what he did today. Can’t say enough about what he did for us today.”