Malden Catholic bests Franklin in Super 8 first round opener

MC	2
Franklin	1

LOWELL — Malden Catholic defeated Franklin, 2-1, in Game 1 of their Super 8 first-round series at Tsongas Center on Sunday.

Franklin had a much larger student turnout at the arena, but when the final buzzer sounded only the Malden Catholic students could be heard cheering.

MC coach John McLean wasn’t as enthusiastic about the win.

“We got lucky, [Franklin] should have won the game,” McLean said. “I thought they outplayed us the entirety of the game.”

Franklin held its ground against the four-time Super 8 defending champion Lancers. The Panthers matched MC’s shot total with 10 during a scoreless first period.

Franklin had a number of missed opportunities throughout the game. The first came when Malden Catholic’s Matthew Filipe went to the penalty box for cross-checking with less than a minute left in the first. Alec Borkowski controlled a rebound and was skating toward an empty net with MC goaltender Kyle Casey sprawled on the opposite side. But Borkowski lost the handle at the last second, and the game remained scoreless at the end of the first.

The Panthers (17-3-3) struck just 1:06 into the second period when Alex Campbell lifted a hard wrister past Casey (24 saves) to give Franklin a 1-0 lead.

“Guys were worried about getting points instead of doing their job and playing defense and that happens,” McLean said.

Franklin goaltender Ryan Shea (39 saves) came up big for the Panthers in the second period, turning away 18 shots. Jake Adams tried to sneak the puck in from the right side of the crease, but Shea stuck his foot out to make the save.

Franklin’s Nick Morris was then sent to the box for hooking. However, Shea and the defense held strong, and the Panthers maintained their one-goal edge.

“You need a goaltender like that to stay in games,” Franklin coach Chris Spillane said. “He’s been doing that, and we’re going to need that once again Wednesday.”

With less than five minutes left in the second period, MC tied it up. Junior Nick Botticelli received a pass from Brendan White and beat Shea.

The Lancers (17-1-2) took their first lead of the game 3:16 into the third. Filipe came flying into the crease and cleaned up a rebound from an Austin Goldstein shot. The goal was Filipe’s 15th of the season.

The teams will return to Tsongas Center for Game 2 of the three-game series Wednesday at 8 p.m.