Hawks fall short in game three of title series

Matt Metcalf
Posted 3/26/15

All series long, the Bishop Hendricken hockey team carried the play, but struggled to score goals against La Salle, which was clearly the more opportunistic team.

It was no different during game …

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Hawks fall short in game three of title series

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All series long, the Bishop Hendricken hockey team carried the play, but struggled to score goals against La Salle, which was clearly the more opportunistic team.

It was no different during game three on Monday night, as the Hawks out-shot the Rams, 36-22, for the game, but fell 4-1.

The win propelled La Salle to its first state hockey title since the 1976-77 season – the Rams’ seventh state title overall.

Much like the first two games, the Rams got on the board first, with Joe Manown burying a 2-on-1 opportunity past Matt Kenneally just 46 seconds into the game.

The goal marked the second time in three games that Manown had opened the scoring in the first minute, depositing the first shot of the series in game one on a similar 2-on-1 break.

Already feeling the pressure of having to erase a one-goal deficit, the Hawks fell in an even deeper hole following a giveaway at their defensive blue line.

After a miscommunication between a pair of Hendricken players, La Salle’s Ryan Kelly collected the puck inside the blue line, turned and fired a low, hard shot that beat Kenneally to the short-side, giving the Rams a 2-0 lead.

Kenneally stood tall on a 2-on-1 break for La Salle early in the second period, keeping the Hawks’ deficit at two.

And, at 10:32 of the second period, Hendricken got a gift, when La Salle’s Matt Manown went off for an undisciplined unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

After failing to convert on their one power-play opportunity in the first period, the Hawks weren’t about to let this one fall by the wayside.

After a Reilly Miller shot got deflected wide, Brandon Waterman collected the puck and beat La Salle goaltender Tyler Walsh on a wraparound, trimming the score to 2-1.

Hendricken continued to ride its momentum through the end of the period, but were unable to find the equalizer.

But even though it was still trailing by one, Hendricken had to be confident heading into the third period. Not only was the ice tilted in the second period, but the shots showed it, as well. Hendricken out-shot La Salle, 14-6, in the second period for a two-period total of 28-13.

However, La Salle took the air out of Hendricken’s balloon right out of the gates in the third period.

Just 1:08 into the final frame, Evan McGreen scored a controversial goal through traffic on a rebound in front of the net. It appeared that the puck never entered the net, but one of the referee’s called McGreen’s shot a good goal, upping La Salle’s lead to two once again.

This time, the two-goal lead would be insurmountable.

“We come back and make it 2-1 and we were feeling pretty good about it,” Hendricken head coach Jim Creamer said. “We felt that we played pretty well in the last eight minutes of that second period. We had a lot of pressure and we were pushing it. Then the third goal was a killer. I’ve talked to some people and it doesn’t look like it went in, but that’s a tough call for a referee. All of those guys are excellent referees and it was a difficult call. But at the same time, it had really negative impact on us and sucked the life out of us.”

After that, the Hawks never really made another push down the stretch. La Salle sat back, trapped the Hawks and continued to dump the puck, as it nurtured the two-goal lead.

Joe Manown put the finishing touches on La Salle’s game-three victory with an empty-net goal with eight seconds remaining – his fourth goal of the series and 28th on the year.

After a dramatic overtime win in game two, it seemed as if destiny would be on Hendricken’s side, but that wasn’t the case, as La Salle claimed the state title on a night where every bounce went the Rams’ way.

For the series, Hendricken out-shot La Salle, 98-64, but Walsh was tremendous in net for the Rams, stopping 94 of the 98 shots that he faced, en route to earning MVP honors for the championship series.

“It just got away from us there and they did a good job of keeping us out of their end,” Creamer said. “They were difficult to score on and that’s the way it was all year – it started from Tyler (Walsh) out. They were the better team this weekend and they won.”

It wasn’t for a lack of effort on Hendricken’s end, though. Its group of nine seniors, in particular, gave it all that they had in a final attempt to leave Hendricken with a state title.

“We have nine seniors and they’re all great kids,” Creamer said. “They’ll have terrific lives and they’ll recover from this. They got into some great schools and they’ll move forward. You certainly would’ve hoped for a better end result, but it had to end some way for them.”

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