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Campbell's hat trick gives Andover upset over Central Catholic

Saturday, February, 18 By David Willis
Staff writer

LAWRENCE — Scott Campbell’s day was hardly off to a dream start.

The Andover junior overslept, and during warmups he was informed by coach Mike Ciarletta he had been replaced on the powerplay, as the Golden Warriors tried to spark the struggling unit.

“From the second I woke up I had butterflies in my stomach,” said Campbell. “I was nervous. But I also had a good feeling for some reason.”

It may have started as a rough day, but yesterday turned into the greatest day of Campbell’s hockey life.

Campbell recorded his first varsity hat trick, leading Andover to a shocking 3-0 victory over archrival Central Catholic, the No. 5 team in Eastern Mass. Andover is unranked.

“Words can’t describe how happy I am,” said Campbell. “I’m speechless. We had this game marked on our calendar all year. They beat us last time, but to go out and beat them this time was just the best.”

The victory snapped an 11-game unbeaten streak for Central, and marks the second year in a row Andover has beaten the Raiders late in the season to endanger their Super 8 standing.

It was also just Andover’s second victory over Central since the 2005-06 season. The Golden Warriors were 1-6-3 against their rival during that stretch.

“This is the best feeling ever,” said captain Liam Centrella, who had two assists. “I kept telling Scotty the whole game, the puck comes to you when you do good things. I knew if I got him the puck he would do the rest. He played one heck of a game.”

Campbell wasted no time, scoring his first goal just 36 seconds into the game on a sweet backhand over the Central goalie’s glove.

“We had a trap and I was on the forecheck,” he said. “The defenseman lost the puck in the middle. I went, got it and backhanded it up top.”

Then, just 6:30 later, Campbell added to the advantage. There was a scramble in front of the net, he found the puck on his stick and went five-hole past the goalie to make it 2-0.

“I was so happy for him to get those two,” said goalie Colby Gilbert. “And it also took a lot of pressure off my shoulders to have that lead.”

The final goal was an emotional moment. With the clock ticking down in the third and the Raider net empty, Centrella took the puck into the zone and chose to pass up an open shot and serve the puck to Campbell for the hat trick goal with just one second left in the game.

“Liam could have had it,” said Campbell. “But he was generous enough to slide the puck to me and give me the hat trick. He didn’t have to do that. It was awesome. He is such a great captain.”

The hat trick was the first for Campbell since his freshman season on the JV team. He had a pair of two-goal games this season, and now has a team-high 12 goals for the year.

“I don’t think he liked me too much when the day started,” said Ciarletta. “But he responded just the way we want players to. He let his actions speak for him, and I think it represented how the whole team responded.”

Another star was Gilbert. The junior made 24 saves for his second career shutout. His best stop came late in the second when he stopped a rebound falling backwards into the net. He also stopped a scrum early in the third with a pair of butterfly saves.

“If I could pick one team to have a shuout against in my career, it would be Central Catholic,” said Gilbert. “So I am really glad it happened today.”