Pope Francis boys hockey finds a late winner to defeat Xaverian in D-1 final
BOSTON — What rebuild?
The Xaverian High boys hockey team, which has plenty of South Shore flair, was playing in the Division 1 state championship game on Sunday.
A few months ago, that might have been a surprise after the Hawks graduated 15 seniors from last year's team, which had lost in the Div. 1 state final at TD Garden against St. John's Prep.
Heck, even a few weeks ago that would have been a surprise.
The seventh-seeded Hawks were seconds away from going to overtime on Sunday, but No. 4 Pope Francis found a winner with :25.3 remaining to pull out a 3-2 win.
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“We graduated 15 seniors last year, so I think everybody thought this was going to be a rebuild,” Xaverian coach Dave Spinale said. “Cole (Pouliot-Porter) has been our anchor all year, which is no surprise.”
Pouliot-Porter, Xaverian's goaltender, was under fire for all three periods against Pope Francis’ high-powered offense. The junior from Wrentham faced 31 shots on net.
“Obviously, it stings right now that we lost,” said Pouliot-Porter. “We have a great group of guys that proved a lot of people wrong. Next year's group is going to do special things.”
Xaverian’s second and final goal came from Milton resident Sean Connolly. The short-handed goal came on a rebound after Walpole senior Thomas Dunn got his shot blocked. The goal allowed Xaverian to retake a 2-1 lead with 12:15 remaining in the second period.
“Sean Connolly is a great player,” said Pouliot-Porter. "A great locker room person, too, who stepped up as a senior. Sean Connolly’s goal today was definitely a turning point, obviously, because of a short-hander. He brought great things to the table for today's game and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
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Raynham resident Jackson Morse had Xaverian's other goal, assisted by Devin Gosciak, who is from Easton, with 7:41 left in the first period.
On paper, the Hawks didn’t go into the playoffs as the favorites. Being the No. 7 seed with 12-8 regular-season record, it took an overtime win and a shutout performance from Pouliot-Porter against Reading Memorial in the Final Four to get to the championship.
“Honestly, we all knew we had to be our best selves during the playoffs,” said Pouliot-Porter. “Our regular-season record didn’t reflect us in the playoffs, (but) the boys worked really hard.”
The game-winning goal came from Pope Francis’ Josh Iby on a cross-crease pass from Maurice Kearney in the final minute.
“Mossy made a great play and he’s really crafty,” said Pope Francis coach Brian Foley. “He sets his linemates up for some nice goals. It was good to see Josh bury that, that’s for sure.”
For Pope Francis, the title helped resolve some unfinished business. From 2018-2020, the Cardinals reached the Super 8 final three consecutive times but never got to celebrate a win. In 2018 and 2019, Pope Francis lost to BC High by 2-1 scores. In 2020, the state final against Arlington was cancelled due to COVID-19 and the teams were declared co-champs.
“I was just looking at my phone and I got about 30 texts and a lot of those are from that (2020) team,” said Brian Foley. “A lot of those kids were feeling like there was unfinished business. So they’re a part of this.”
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Pope Francis boys hockey defeats Xaverian in Division 1 state final
