BOURNE – It seemed all hope had been lost.
When Marshfield erased a 2-1 Barnstable lead in the third period with an incredible comeback to go ahead 3-2, many teams would have hung their heads and called it a season.
Barnstable High junior Matt Kaski netted the game-winning goal in last night’s 5-4 double-overtime win against Marshfield. He scored three goals in all.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
Not so for the Barnstable High boys’ hockey team last night at the Gallo Ice Arena, as the Red Raiders rode the heroics of Matt Kaski, Donnie Brodd and Matt Pasic en route to a 5-4 sudden death double-overtime win over Marshfield in the Division 1 South Sectional quarterfinals.
Kaski’s double-overtime goal gave him a hat trick for the night and made it five goals in two tourney games. Brodd, who scored Barnstable’s first goal in the first period and had two assists, was the man who fed the puck from behind the net to Kaski for the game-winner.
But it was the Red Raider sophomore Matt Pasic – who had not scored a goal all season – who stepped into the breach when it absolutely seemed as if time had run out on Barnstable’s season.
Young and in his first varsity season, Pasic nevertheless has some key athletic skills and hails from a dyed-in-the-wool hockey family and it was head coach Scott Nickerson who said last night there had been some debate as to whether to put the young man with the top line as regulation time was set to expire and with it, Barnstable’s hopes to keep the season rolling.
With 0:36 seconds left in the game and his team down 4-3, Pasic followed the action of Brodd and Kevin Conway around the net and skated in front as the puck got kicked around amidst a maddening sea of legs and ankle-hacking sticks. The puck somehow squirted loose and Pasic was there as Marshfield’s goalie Brayson Owens was splayed out trying to cover it up.
No such luck.
A JOB WELL DONE – Barnstable goalie Dylland Campbell races out to greet his team after Kaski scored the sudden-death double overtime goal to defeat Marshfield, 5-4.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
The split-second he saw it, Pasic instantly fired forward on the puck and flipped it into the net for a 4-4 deadlock and the Gallo Ice Arena went into absolute pandemonium. The game was sent into overtime.
Exhausted, both teams hammered away at their chances in the six-minute extra frame and it seemed that any time a player from either team had his stick on the puck out in the open his fans would erupt into an ear-piercing, collective scream.
Marshfield literally controlled the entire six minutes and outshot the Red Raiders 6-0. It seemed only a matter of time before Marshfield would take home the sudden death victory, with one major exception to that mode of predictive thinking, that major exception being Barnstable senior goaltender Dylan Campbell.
Once regulation time had expired Campbell opted to not join the team and he stayed put right in his goal and meditated on what he needed to do.
“Dylan Campbell played a great game,” Coach Nickerson said. “He’s really had a spectacular year. Just look at how far he’s come from the beginning of the season, I mean, he has 13 or 14 wins.”
Still tied at 4-4 after the first overtime session, Barnstable and Marshfield then sent out their four best men onto the ice for a four-on-four, 6:00 minute second session. Both teams were determined to take this win home and shot on each other’s goal three times before Barnstable’s Dan Black forced a Marshfield turnover and fed the puck at mid-ice to Brodd.
Brodd met Kaski quickly at the blue line and the two skated toward the Marshfield goal and then split apart, with Brodd wheeling around the back of the goal quickly. Kaski skated into position, took Brodd’s feed and “Whammy,” 5-4. Game over.
Barnstable High’s Donnie Brodd scored a goal and had two assists, including the game’s final pass to Kaski for the game-wining shot.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
“That’s what I’ve been looking for all year,” Nickerson said. “That heart. That passion. The emotion. That drive. Now the nerves are gone. Now we can just go out there and play.”
Unofficially, Campbell made 33 saves on the night while Marshfield’s Owens made 18.
Marshfield got on the scoreboard first at the 8:41 mark of the first period on a goal by freshman Neil Shea (assisted by Will Cole and Harry Sheldon)
Brodd retaliated just 47 seconds later at the 7:54 mark when he took a pass to the point from Joey DeMayo on the right wing and fired a slap shot past Owens. The score was tied at 1-1.
Kaski netted his first of three goals on the night over four minutes later at the 3:01 mark of the first period. He took a feed from Noah Oakley and wheeled in on Owens and made it 2-1.
After a scoreless second period, Marshfield’s Andrew Fithian, who had a hat trick in the third period, tied it at 2-2 at the 7:32 mark (assisted by Isiah Jackson and Hunter McCauley).
That goal gave the Rams an almost immeasurable amount of momentum and the Marshfield crowd turned up the noise decibels considerably.
That moment could be measured, however, by Fithian’s ensuing goal just two minutes later when he made it 3-2 at the 5:33 mark (assisted by Matt Doyle). Hope began to erode on the Barnstable side of the arena.
Re-enter Kaski. Literally.
The Red Raiders celebrate after the win.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
Kaski, who left the game near the end of the second period after taking a full-body blow into the boards, returned to start the third frame. Down 3-2, Kaski put the puck home with just 2:05 remaining (assists Kevin Conway, Brodd) and made it a 3-3 tie. Hope returned to the Barnstable side.
For 27 seconds.
Nearly a half minute later at the 1:38 mark, Fithian struck paydirt again. He was assisted once more by Isiah Jackson and Hunter McCauley and Marshfield was in fifth gear, ahead 4-3.
One minute later, as the curtain began to close on Barnstable’s 2014-15 campaign, Pasic gave the Rams one more back-snapper when he knotted it at 4-4 with 0:36 left.
The Red Raiders will now advance to the MIAA Division 1 South Sectional semifinals on Thursday, March 5, at 8:00 pm versus #10-seed Hingham (13-8-3).
#3-seeded Barnstable is now 15-5-1. Marshfield’s season ends at 10-10-4.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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