MANCHESTER — It was the longest 18 seconds of J.J. Solloway's young life. But when the clock finally ticked away to zero, the Pinkerton goaltender threw his mask high into the air at the JFK Coliseum, nearly touching the old barn's lights, and was greeted by a pack of teammates that heaped into a pile, with Solloway at the bottom.
The junior made 31 saves in the Astros' 2-1 upset win over top-seeded and two-time defending state champion Bishop Guertin in the Division 1 semifinals. He was at his best with the game on the line, making three enormous blind stops in the final 18 seconds, after Guertin had called a timeout in an effort to tie the score.
"Those last few seconds felt like a couple of hours," Solloway said grin. "I was moving around a lot, and there were a few of those shots that I couldn't even see. But, I just tried to keep myself in a position to be in the shooting lane. I couldn't see exactly where the puck was, but knew the area it would be coming from by their positioning. So, I just tried to get in the way of anything that came at me. There were a few I was able to see, some pucks that were in close, but there were some from the outside that I couldn't see at all. Billy (McCarran) made a huge block, that was a key play.
Solloway continued, "I won't lie, I was back there just waiting to hear that buzzer. I wasn't sure it was going to."
Solloway was nearly flawless. The sole puck BG was able put past him was off a defensive-zone turnover during a breakout on the power play.
"We knew that this could come down to who had the better goalie," said Pinkerton head coach Casey Kesselring. "Tonight, our goalie was better. We knew that they would come at us hard because they are such a deep team, so we needed to be able to sustain that and I thought we did a pretty good job keeping our composure. BG is really physical too, they really beat us up at times. But our guys knew what to expect, we played them tough earlier this year, and we knew we could compete with them."
Alex Campbell gave the Astros a 1-0 lead just six minutes into the game. After poking the puck away from a Guertin forward in the defensive zone along the right-wing boards, the senior forward took it all the way, slashing towards the cage and sniping a wrist shot that beat goaltender Dave O'Brien over the glove.
After that BG took over, outshooting the Astros 11-2 over the final nine minutes of the period.
The Astros took a 2-0 lead with 1:13 left in the second period when Jason Carace picked up a loose puck in the slot after Tom Bois' shot was blocked, and tucked it behind O'Brien.
"That cushion made a huge difference," Kesselring said. "They were really beating on us at that point and we all of a sudden earn a nice little bounce. But, you need to take advantage of those and Jason did. You can't let those opportunities pass by, especially against teams with the depth that BG has, we needed to get one there."
After Sean White's fluky goal made it 2-1 with 6:27 to play, the Astros hung on to the win with old fashioned dirty work.
"We needed guys to go out there and eat some pucks," Kesselring said. "At that point, it's sacrifice time. Billy McCarran went out after their timeout and as a senior, led by example putting his body in front of a shot. We needed to do whatever was necessary to kill off that final 20 seconds. Our boys got it done"
The Astros will take on Hanover in Sunday's championship game (4:45 p.m.) at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.
Pinkerton 2, Bishop Guertin 1
Division 1 semifinals at JFK Coliseum, Manchester
First Period: 1. PA Alex Campbell (Andrew Stefanelli, Eddie Galvin), 6:00.
Second Period: 2. PA Jason Carace (Tom Bois, Andrew Stefanelli), PPG, 13:47.
Third Period: 3. BG Sean White (Ward Gleason), PPG, 8:33.
Saves: PA — J.J. Solloway 17-6-8—31; BG Dave O'Brien 4-7-7—18
Power play: Pinkerton 1 for 3; Bishop Guertin 0 for 3
Bishop Guertin (15-2-1):0âÇ0âÇ1 — 1
Pinkerton Academy (16-6-1):1âÇ1âÇ0 — 2
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