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Wed, Jan 16, 2008 07:20 PM @ St. John's

Team	1	2	3	Final
Malden Catholic	1	0	2	3
St. John's	2	1	0	3

Third period rally by MC ties St. John's Prep

Thursday, January, 17 By Jean DePlacido
Correspondent

The St. John's Prep hockey team got off to a very fast start last night | but in the end, that was evened out by an equally strong finish by Malden Catholic.

The end result was a hard-fought 3-3 tie between the two Catholic Conference rivals before a large crowd at the Ristuccia Memorial Arena.

The Prep took a 3-1 lead into the final period before Malden Catholic scored twice over the final 15 minutes to earn a point for both teams.

"I'm not happy that we had a two-goal lead in the third period and didn't win," said Prep coach Kristian Hanson, his team 5-3-2 at the halfway point of the season.

"They say that a two-goal lead is the most dangerous lead of all in hockey, and for good reason. We completely dominated the first two periods, but some missed opportunities came back to haunt us."

Halfway through their Catholic Conference slate, the Eagles are 1-2-1 in league play.

"This was a typical Catholic Conference battle, so I guess a tie isn't too surprising," added Hanson. "You have to play three complete periods to win. I don't want to put a negative spin on it, though, because we played well enough to win."

From the opening faceoff of the third period, the Lancers (5-1-2) played with an urgency that had been lacking earlier. A power play goal by Zack Sheppard with four minutes gone made it a whole new game. Prep goaltender Eric Clifford stopped a shot by Craig Carbonneau right in front, but the rebound came out to Sheppard, who jammed it into the net.

Just over four minutes later Joey White got the equalizer when he redirected a Sheppard bid over Clifford's shoulder. "We didn't play well and dodged a couple of bullets early," said MC coach Chris Serino. "We did a better job in the third (period), but give the Prep credit. They played hard and won all the 1-on-1 battles. We never pressured their defensemen in the first two periods, but finally did in the third and caused turnovers."

The crowd was barely seated after the playing of the National Anthem when Colin Prior put St. John's on the board 24 seconds into the game, but it took the Lancers just 18 seconds to answer.

The Eagles had a 2-1 edge at the end of one period, and were up, 3-1 heading into the final 15 minutes but couldn't hold it.

St. John's had a couple of excellent opportunities to regain the lead and put pressure on MC goalie John Carbonneau in the game's final minutes. Dan Lawton and Steve DiCarlo (who scored the Prep's second goal on the power play) both tested Carbonneau with just under three minutes to go, but he denied them.

Christian Cowles had a big night for St. John's with a goal and two assists. Linemates Dan Haugh (2 assists) and Prior set Cowles up at the 5-minute mark of the second period to give the Eagles a two-goal lead at 3-1.

"I saw a lot of positives," said Hanson. "This was a good team effort. Our first line played very well and controlled play every time they were on the ice. We still have things to work on, but we are improving."