BOURNE — One period into the state tournament and it looked too much like the five games the Bishop Stang hockey team has lost in the 2019-20 season. To wit, 13 shots on net and nothing to show for it. Oh, and a 1-0 deficit after seeing a two-man advantage yield the only goal of the game — for Nantucket.
The Spartans didn't settle, though, and neither did Ben Saunders.
The 5-foot-11, junior defenseman from New Bedford scored three times as No. 9 Stang eliminated No. 8 Nantucket, 5-2, at Gallo Arena.
"We changed our forecheck in between first and second (periods), changed it from 1-2-2 to 2-1-2 so we could have more people in, put more pressure on them. Looked like it worked," said Saunders. "We knew the first time we played them, we outplayed them the whole time, we just didn't capitalize on our chances."
The Spartans (11-5-5) capitalized on Friday and face top-seeded Hopkinton on Sunday at Canton Ice House at 3:25 p.m.
Stang went 1-1 against Nantucket in the regular season. The Spartans let a 2-0 lead slip away on Jan. 2 on the island but won a 2-0 rematch on Jan. 18 at Hetland Memorial Rink.
Friday's rubber match began shaping up similarly, only without the lead. But the Spartans showed poise in this one, answering the Whalers' physical forecheck at the start of the second period with some excellent playmaking.
"We had a little talking to after the first period, and I thought that we responded," said Stang head coach Ken Gouveia, whose team scored three times in the second period and went to second intermission up 3-2. "Our power play got us a couple, then once we scored I thought we felt a little more relaxed after that."
Saunders scored his first of the day after stealing the puck in the neutral zone, beating a defender and then Nantucket junior goalie James Culkins (25 saves) to tie the game for Stang at 5:02 of the second period.
Only 1:10 later, Stang defenseman Vittorio Consoletti fired home a go-ahead goal only five seconds into a penalty on Nantucket defenseman Alex Freeman for hooking Stang defenseman Ryan Martin. Chris Gauvin assisted.
Consoletti's goal put the Spartans on top 2-1, and after Nantucket's Gavin Pekarcik went off for roughing at 7:42 Matthew Walsh converted on the man advantage with an assist from Seamus Marshall to make it 3-1 Spartans at 9:30 of the second period.
The Spartans were threatening to run away with the game until Walsh went off the ice for hooking Sam Freeman and Nantucket senior captain Gavin Fey cut the Stang lead to 3-2 with 2:25 left in the period.
Saunders tallied twice in the final frame, his wrist shot after a clean faceoff win by Jack Jedrey hitting the top corner on Culkins to make it 4-2 at 9:02.
Justin Gouveia had a big chance to put the game away with three minutes remaining, but Culkins made three saves against him.
Saunders made sure of the outcome, scoring unassisted on the vacated Nantucket net with 22.2 seconds on the game clock.
Matt Dore's day didn't start off the way he had hoped. Stang's junior goalie had faced only five shots when Nantucket's Marsh Hickman scored a beautiful short-handed goal, picking the top-right corner with 34 seconds remaining in the first period.
The goal, coming late in what had been a 5-on-3 power play for 1:13 and then a 5-on-4 for another 47 seconds, was only the Whalers' sixth shot on goal against a 13-shot barrage by the Spartans, including several near misses.
Nantucket defenseman Alex Gibson made a nice play on the sideboards, leveraging Saunders on the sideboards to gain possession and then finding Hickman for a touchdown pass.
Dore was airtight afterward, making excellent second-period stops on Fey and then on Cole Evens on a 2-on-1.