Bulldog hockey teams red-hot entering postseason

Jerry Harding and the Bulldogs are peaking at just the right time. (Mike Barucci photo)

Update: The CHS boys ice hockey team is headed back to the south sectional finals after knocking off No. 2 Medfield 5-1 at the Gallo Arena in Bourne Wednesday night. The sixth-seeded Bulldogs (15-6-1), who also defeated No. 11 Plymouth North and No. 3 Plymouth South, will face top-seeded Westwood (18-2-2) on Sunday, March 8, at 4 p.m. at the Gallo Arena.

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High school playoff hockey got underway this week across the state of Massachusetts, and both the CHS boys and girls teams entered their respective tournaments brimming with confidence after winning their final three regular season games in impressive fashion.

The girls team, one of this season’s pleasant surprises in the SEMGHL Coastal Division and a legitimate sleeper in the 25-team Division 2 bracket, earned the No. 17 seed and was scheduled to face No. 16 Winchester at the O’Brien Rink in Woburn on Tuesday night.

The boys, meanwhile, are seeded No. 6 in Division 2 south and were due to battle No. 11 Plymouth North last night in Bourne.

And while anything can happen come tournament time, the two Canton squads have already earned themselves plenty of credit and praise for their accomplishments to date, as both navigated similarly daunting schedules and came out with nearly identical records of 12-6-2 and 12-6-1.

For the boys team, that includes a 7-1 finish and a fifth consecutive Hockomock League championship, which they claimed outright after beating Milford 4-1 in Hopedale Monday night. The game had been postponed several times and did not count for tournament seeding purposes, and yet the Bulldogs still got it done, securing the victory on goals by Jim Jenkins, Tommy Kilduff, John Femia, and Jackson Maffeo.

“It was a good game,” said head coach Brian Shuman afterwards. “I wouldn’t say it was our best effort of the season, but I think we needed one of those games where we didn’t play our best but still found a way to grind out a victory.”

Shuman also raved about his team’s performance in last week’s Joseph I. Quinn Memorial Tournament hosted by Coyle & Cassidy. One of the more competitive regular season hockey tournaments in the state, the two-day event featured four playoff-bound teams, and the Bulldogs came out on top after knocking off both Boston Latin (8-8-4) and CC (14-5-1).

Shuman called the Boston Latin game — a 4-3 win in double-overtime — arguably the “most thrilling victory of the season,” with the two sides trading goals and chances from start to finish. Bobby Mullaney, Jerry Harding, and Shaun Kirby each had a goal in regulation, while junior Matt Lazaro added to his team-leading total with the game-winner in the second overtime period.

In the tournament finals last Thursday, Lazaro was again the star as he collected a natural hat trick in the first period to help lead Canton to a 4-1 win. Junior goalie Justin Slocum was outstanding in net for the Bulldogs and also had several huge saves in the win over Boston Latin.

Shuman said that winning the Hockomock Davenport Division and the Quinn tournament were both “pretty special” in their own right. “I think it’s always a goal of ours to win as many titles as we can,” he said. “Whenever we come out on top in a field of very good teams, it’s always a good thing. And our guys don’t take anything lightly — they went out and they earned it.”

As for the Lady Bulldogs, they too appear to be peaking at the right time after closing out the regular season with three straight victories over a three-day span last week.

Over the three games combined, the girls outshot their competitors — Sandwich, Walpole and Whitman-Hanson — by an 82-36 margin and outscored them by a total of 8-1.

Head coach Dennis Aldrich said he was especially proud of their performance against Walpole last Thursday, as the Rebels came in needing just one standings point to clinch a postseason berth and “threw everything at [them].” Yet the Canton girls took it all in stride and battled their way to a 2-1 victory.

“It was a tremendous physical battle,” said Aldrich. “If you couldn’t see the pretty hair hanging out of the backs of the helmets, you’d swear it was a boys game. But our girls, they really don’t back down from anyone, and they actually pushed the envelope a little bit.”

Senior captains Jackie Martin and Mary McNeil both had a goal and an assist in the win, and they were instrumental in the other two wins as they finished the week with six and five points, respectively. Junior Sarah Wilkinson also had a big week offensively with two goals, and freshman center Kendra Farrelly finished with a goal and an assist.

Also last week, the SEMGHL had its all-star game and Canton had three very deserving representatives: McNeil, freshman goalie Colleen Kelleher, and freshman defenseman Mary Thompson. McNeil and Thompson are the Bulldogs’ top two leading scorers, while Kelleher is among the league leaders in several statistical categories.

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