McCann Tech Icers Win State Voc Title

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The McCann Tech hockey team Saturday showed its resilience in a 5-4, come-from-behind victory over Assabet Valley in the State Vocational Championship Game.

 

Fewer than 48 hours after a heart-breaking loss in the Western Massachusetts Class B final, the Hornets overcame a 3-1 deficit going into the third period to earn the program’s first state title.

 

Nolan Booth scored the go-ahead goal with 6 minutes, 22 seconds left in the third, and Ben Harris made 20 saves to give McCann Tech the crown.

 

“We had a nice talk with coach,” Booth said of the Hornets’ recovery from Thursday’s loss. “It stinks losing, especially a game as big as that. But we overcame that. We came and worked hard tonight.”

 

Everett Bayliss scored a pair of goals and set up Booth’s go-ahead goal. Booth also had two assists, and Dallas Ritcher recorded two assists and an empty-net goal that gave McCann Tech a 5-3 lead with just more than a minute to play.

 

Assabet Valley did not make things easy, though.

 

Marshall Bercume scored with 13 seconds on the clock to get the visitors within a goal, and Harris had to make a diving save with 2 seconds on the clock to prevent the equalizer.

 

But after a magical season that saw the Hornets go from the basement to the penthouse in the Wright Division, McCann Tech would not be denied on its home ice.

 

“We felt we didn’t play our best game on Thursday, and we wanted to come out and show everybody that we’re a better team than we showed on Thursday night,” said McCann Tech assistant coach Dan MacWhinnie, who filled in for coach Matt Parise, who suffered a loss in his family on Thursday.

 

“And that’s what we just hammered. And the kids performed the best they could.”

 

The Hornets were playing uphill most of the afternoon.

 

Assabet Valley scored the game’s first goal five minutes in when Jack Christensen put home the rebound of a shot from the high slot.

 

The visitors held that lead until late in the first period. That is when Bayliss won an offensive zone faceoff on the left wing and circled down to the crease, where Braman set him up for a tying goal with 1 minute, 10 seconds left in the period.

 

McCann Tech could not carry that momentum into the second, which was owned by Assabet Valley. The visitors got goals from Alex Silver and Christensen to build a 3-1 lead going into the third.

 

In the first minute of the third period, the Hornets started their comeback.

 

First, Hayden Bona tipped home a shot from Mason Rondeau to make it 3-2.

 

Then, fewer than two minutes later, Bayliss took a pass from Booth and beat Assabet goalie Alex Wellburn (26 saves) to tie the game with 12:35 on the clock.

 

Three minutes later, the Hornets took a penalty for interference, but its PK unit went 2-for-2 on the day, keeping the game, 3-3.

 

Thirty seconds after the Assabet power play ended, Booth put McCann Tech on top for good with the final goal the home crowd will see this winter from a memorable first line.

 

“We were coming down, breaking it down, Dallas [Ritcher] had a really hard forecheck and shook the puck loose,” Booth said. “I passed it over Everett, and he gave it back. We really have really good chemistry on this team, this line. And the boys have worked really hard this year.”

 

Shortly after Assabet Valley pulled its keeper the first time, Ritcher made it a two-goal game with a rocket from just inside the blue line.

 

The win gave the Hornets a 15-5 record – 14-3 for MIAA seeding purposes – in a year when it stepped up to meet new challenges and did not lose a game against another Massachusetts school until Feb. 15.

 

It also gave McCann Tech a memory to erase its disappointment in the Western Mass final.

 

“We wanted to go out, play the game [Parese] taught us all, play for each other and give it everything they had, and they did,” MacWhinnie said. “They talked about teamwork and working together in between periods.

 

“In the third period, you saw that everybody was moving the puck. Everyone skated hard. It was a good effort in the third period.”

 

On Wednesday, the Hornets will look for the same kind of effort on the road when 19th-seeded McCann Tech takes on No. 14 Medway at the Pirelli Arena in Franklin in the first round of the Division 4 State Tournament.