How Spaulding defeated Dover in D-II boys hockey semis: It starts with Collin McIntyre
CONCORD — Collin McIntyre was so good Wednesday night he even saved teammate Tyler Jean from possibly getting trampled when he fell to the ice during the postgame celebration.
Indeed, the sophomore goaltender was a savior for the No. 8 seed Spaulding High School hockey team as he backstopped the Red Raiders to a 3-1, semifinal win over No. 5 and arch-rival Dover at Everett Arena.
“Collin was great today,” said Jean, a sophomore forward who scored two goals. “Without him I don’t think we would have won this game. He played phenomenal.”
McIntyre finished with 42 saves including 21 in the second period.
“He’s playing tremendous right now,” said Spaulding coach Jamie Ferullo.
With the win Spaulding advances to its first Division II final since 2015 where it will face No. 2 Oyster River, which moved on with a 4-0 blanking of No. 6 Alvirne-Milford in Wednesday’s second semifinal.
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“Credit to them,” said Dover coach Mike Young. “They played really well, made it tough for us and closed the game out.”
Spaulding's remarkable tournament run keeps going
Spaulding (now 10-9-2) started the tournament with a sub-.500 record and had to win a preliminary-round game over Somersworth/Coe-Brown (3-2) before stunning No. 1 Merrimack with a 3-2 double-overtime win on a penalty shot in the quarterfinals.
The championship game will be played on Saturday at SNHU Arena in Manchester. The Red Raiders will be seeking their fourth D-II title and fifth overall. This will mark their eighth appearance in a D-II final.
“It feels great, it really does,” Ferullo said. “It’s a different feeling right now. It’s a different aura. These kids are coming together at the right time. They’ve always been capable of this; they just didn’t know it.”
Big night for Tyler Jean as well as McIntyre
Jean, who missed much of last season with a broken collarbone, scored twice for Spaulding and Ryan Dube added a goal and an assist. The Red Raiders led 2-0 entering the third period but the Green Wave (11-6-3) made things interesting when Caleb Marasca scored with 2:14 remaining in regulation.
Despite the momentum switch, McIntyre was able to refocus for the final moments.
“I knew that we were up 2 to 1 and I knew that my team wanted to win this,” McIntyre said. “I knew they were going to go out there and play as hard as they can. One goal was not going to affect us winning the game.”
And he was right. Spaulding added a power-play goal with less than a minute left to all but end the suspense.
“It gives us a lot of confidence,” Jean said of McIntyre's performance. “We can really rely on him back in the net and it really helps us push on offense.”
Following a scoreless first period, the Red Raiders took a 1-0 lead when Dube fed Jean for the go-ahead goal to finish a 2-on-1, odd-man rush at 5:56 of the second period.
“Dube gave me just a good pass and I put it in the net,” Jean said. “It felt great to score and it gave us momentum going forward. I think that first goal really helped us a lot.”
Dube made it 2-0 just 1:12 later when he scored on a wraparound. McIntyre was particularly sharp in the second period when he stopped all 21 shots he faced. He also helped Spaulding kill off two penalties during that stretch.
Defense crucial for Spaulding as Dover dominates shots on goal
“There were a lot of loose pucks, but their D-men cleared them and tied our guys up,” Young said. “They made it hard for us.”
Overall, the Green Wave outshot the Red Raiders, 43-23. Dover goalie J.P. Alander made 20 saves.
“I’m just so happy for these kids,” Ferullo said. “We’ve got seniors that coming into the year had five career wins but they still showed up every single day each year, worked hard and didn’t give up, and here we are. I’ve said to the kids, ‘You don’t just deserve this, you belong here.'”
“It feels amazing to be in the championship right now,” Jean said. “There’s no better feeling.”
Except winning it.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Spaulding tops rival Dover in NHIAA Division II boys hockey semis
