795 TURNPIKE STREET NORTH ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS 01845    TEL #: 978-682-2425

READING defeated Malden Catholic, 3-0, to become the first public school to win the Massachusetts Division 1A title in the tournament's 18-year history. Celebrating (l to r) are Rob Toczylowski, Patrick Kiley, head coach Peter Doherty and Michael Lozzi.

  The single sign, held aloft in the middle of the raucous Reading High student section, said it all: "The public has spoken!"
  Indeed it has. Eighteen years of parochial school dominance of the Div. 1A Tournament, a.k.a. The Elite Eight, came to an end at The TD Banknorth Garden when Reading High School shut down and shut out Malden Catholic, 3-0.
  In so doing, the Rockets not only became the first public to wear the 1A crown - they became the first public to win a State title at the highest level since Hudson High School accomplished the feat 30 years ago. To complete their quest for high school hockey's holy grail, the Rockets (25-1) dispatched four-fifths of the vaunted Catholic Conference, heretofore the keepers of the 1A crown. B.C. High (2-1), Catholic Memorial (5-2) and fellow public Waltham (4-1) fell in the round-robin while the Rockets victimized Xaverian in the semifinals (5-2) before muzzling M.C. They outscored their opponents during the tournament's two-week run by a 19-6 margin. And, it seems, being a year older and a year more experienced made all the differense.
  "Last year we went 0-3, same team, just a year younger. Then, this year, they played great. Our goalie (Jeff Wyer) has improved tremendously from a year ago. He didn't give up many goals this year and he played great in the tournament," said the Rockets' venerable bench boss, 69-year-old Peter Doherty.
  Wyer, a rangy junior, finished with 23 saves and was at his best in a first period controlled by the Lancers, calmly turning aside 11 shots.
  "He's a year older. It's a big difference. I noticed a couple other teams had sophomore goalies and they had trouble. It's a lot of pressure in this tournament for a kid that's in the tenth grade. That's what I think anyway. I know my goalie had a tough time last year, a couple of other teams had a tough time this year," Doherty said.
  The Rockets' defense came as no surprise to Malden Catholic head coach Chris Serino. "I've got to give Reading credit. They were playing their best hockey, their most confident hockey going down the stretch. The thing is, people kept talking about their goal-scorers but I was more concerned that nobody was scoring goals against them. I think they probably let up the least goals in the tournament," Serino said.
  What little offense there was came from a predictable source -- the Rockets' Big Three of Pat Kiley, Rob Toczylowski and Mike Lozzi. Performing on the biggest stage of their careers, they logged close to 30 minutes of ice, accounted for all three goals and proved with finality and beyond doubt that they were the state's premier line.
  "They had a great year, but they had a great year last year. Every year since they've been together a different guy has been the leading scorer in the league. They're special kids. They move the puck and everything and they're all different," Doherty said.
The Rockets seemed sluggish through much of the first period, a testament to the Lancers' ability to clog the passing lanes and neutralize Reading's transition game through neutral ice. Meanwhile, MC  produced several odd-man rushes and a number of testing shots, perhaps the best of which was Craig Carbonneau's doorstep backhander that Wyer sticked aside.
  Kiley's individual brilliance staked the Rockets to a 1-0 lead with 3:19 left in the first period. Gathering in a loose puck at his own blue line, he picked up speed along the right wing, executed a "where'd he go?" outside-in move around a Lancers' defenseman, then snapped a 20-foot wrist shot that ricocheted off and over the glove of John Carbonneau, dropping in behind the junior goalie who finished with 20 saves.
Staring at a yawning net with 52 seconds left in the period, the Lancers' Joe White couldn't settle a bouncing rebound and the puck skittered harmlessly away.
  "We did everything but score," Serino said of the first period. "That's what it's about -- you've got to bury them when you can. We haven't been a prolific goal-scoring team all year. I think that's because we're young. We started to mature a little bit in the tournament, but today we just didn't finish. Their three kids get the puck, they expect to score goals."
  Which is precisely what Toczylowski did twice in the second period, though the first was entirely unexpected. Just 12 seconds in, the bruising winger flipped the puck towards the MC goal from near the left boards a stride inside the red line and the puck hopped over Carbonneau's outstretched left pad for a 2-0 lead. With 8:27 left in the period, Kiley sent Lozzi away along the right wing and his cross-ice neutral zone pass caught Toczylowski in full stride at the Lancers' blue line. While cutting in from the circle, he snapped a wicked shot over Carbonneau's glove that caught the far side for a 3-0 edge.
  Reading turned it over to Wyer and defensemen Travis Busch, Jon-Michael Leach, Garrett Collins and Quinlan Junta at that point.
  Doherty took the championship in stride, saying "it's great for the kids ... it's about the kids."
  Still, the implications weren't lost on him. "What was it, 18 years and the Catholics won every year? It's unbelievable. I think you have to play them during the season so you can get a little better prepared for the tournament. It doesn't help if you play all publics, because when you get to this tournament you're not going to play the publics," Doherty said.
  But, for this year, for this tournament, a public was the last team standing.

NEEDHAM HS is the Massachusetts Division I champion after a 4-1 win over Westford Academy in the title game at TD BankNorth Garden.

  It must have been the nickname. Joining their namesake Division 1A champion Reading Rockets, the Needham Rockets claimed their first State Championship in 38 years, handling Westford Academy, 4-1, in the Division 1 title game at the TD Banknorth Garden.
  OK, so there was more to it than the karmic connection of school names. In a meeting of the two defeated Div. 1A play-in teams, Needham lived up to its reputation as a superb defensive team -- the Rockets yielded 25 goals in 26 games -- while stifling a Westford squad that had been smoking hot in three North Sectional games, averaging better than six goals per outing. It was an emphatic display of defense. How emphatic you ask? Try a 23-6 edge in shots through two periods and a 30-12 bulge by game's end against a team that had consecutive smackdowns of Catholic Central League stalwarts St. Bernard's and Austin Prep to punch its ticket to the Garden.
  The state title was the first for the Bay State Carey Conference kingpins since the glory days of Robbie Ftorek -- the former NHL standout and Boston Bruins' head coach -- and company since 1970. Needham (20-4-2) became the fourth straight Division 1 winner out of the South and earned a No. 5 ranking in the final HNIB poll of this season. Veteran coach Bill Guisti cited the Rockets' determined end-to-end performance as the key to victory.
  "Coming in here, we weren't really sure how good Westford was, especially after the way they beat St. Bernard's and Austin Prep. I know we were all thinking, 'Holy cow, this is a really good club.' But our defense played just great and was just a little too strong for them and all three of our lines were going pretty well. All of our seniors played great and we beat four very good teams to accomplish this," Guisti said.
  The Rockets' senior scoring leader Cody Sharib, who'd been held off the scoresheet for much of the post-season after a 29-point regular season, struck for the game's first two goals. That proved to be all the support necessary for senior goalie Sam Gifford, who lost a bid for a third consecutive tournament shutout late in the game.
  "Cody was fantastic, our best forward. And our goalie really stepped up -- he was very, very consistent throughout the tournament," Guisti said.
  Needham pelted Westford goalie Curtis Serafini (26 saves) from the outset and Sharib gave the Rockets a 1-0 lead with 2:41 left in the first period. Working his way through left slot from the blue line, Sharib beat Serafini to the short side. From that point, the Rockets seemed the more relaxed of the two teams and it showed on the ice.
  "Ten years ago when we made it here, it was a great feeling and we were really excited. But, in '98, we were sort of like the Red Sox winning the American League and just being happy to be in the World Series. Then, in 2000, we had a pretty decent run in the Super 8. This time, we wanted to win the World Series," Guisti said.
  Sharib doubled the margin at 3:42 of the second period, but only after Serafini made bang-bang stops on Sam Kane's initial shot and Michael Sharpe's rebound attempt. Sharib settled the second rebound and deposited it behind the sprawled Serafini. When Kane stretched the margin to 3-0 with 1:43 left in the period, the Rockets had total control.
  Gifford's shutout streak of more than 140 minutes came to an end when Westford converted on the powerplay with Mike Young's cross-ice pass setting up Tyler Harrington's one-timer.
  Needham senior defenseman Mark Joyce accounted for the final with a late empty-netter. Though disappointed by the outcome, the Grey Ghosts' terrific 18-7-1 campaign out of the Merrimack Valley/Dual County's Division 1 is not to be overlooked. The Ghosts, it should be remembered, were playing Division 3 hockey a half-dozen seasons ago and have now elevated themselves to Top 10 status in the state's top division. Carpenter also credited Needham's disciplined fundamentals and a relatively error-free performance as the determining factor. This night, though, belonged to an old school power and an entire community.
  "This was a great group of kids and this was a great win. We're really excited to bring a championship back home for the school and the town. And I really want to thank our fans, who are probably the best in the state and supported us from the first game. They're a little unique and I think they stay up late at night to think of things to say to opposing teams and opposing teams' fans, but they were with us the entire sesaon," Guisti said.