Maybe it wasn't the "Miracle on Ice," but for local high school hockey fans, it's not that far short of it.
Calvert Hall used a puck-possession game, two goals by Heath McLean and timely goaltending by Stefan Blount to defeat Mount St. Joseph, 4-3, and win the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship yesterday at Piney Orchard.
How big a win was it for the Cardinals? The last time the Gaels lost an MIAA game was to St. Mary's in the 2000-01 season. The league has existed since the 1998-99 season, and Mount St. Joseph had won all nine A Conference titles, often in lopsided fashion. The Gaels were 29-0-2 against Calvert Hall (12-4-3, 6-2-2), with the two ties coming this season.
"Everybody in our locker room knew we could get this done," said Blount, a senior. "We worked hard and never quit."
Mount St. Joseph (11-3-4, 6-1-3) took a lead on goals by Andrew McCrumb and Mike Norris 1:06 apart toward the end of the first period, but the Cardinals cut the margin to one on Andrew Klick's power-play goal with 1:22 left in the period.
The Cardinals tied the game 3:03 into the second period when a shot from the point by Andy Yancone got past Gaels goalie J. Paul McDonald.
Calvert Hall jumped ahead for good only 12 seconds into the third period. McLean was skating to the left of the Gaels' net and was heavily defended.
"I took the puck to the net and let it go, and then I saw everyone celebrate," McLean said. The puck appeared to hit a Gaels defender before trickling past McDonald for a 3-2 Calvert Hall lead.
McLean increased the margin 4:35 later, scoring on a rebound to give the Cardinals a 4-2 lead with 10:13 left.
The Gaels got a power-play goal with 3:27 left from McCrumb to cut the margin to 4-3, but Blount made several key saves to preserve the win.
St. Paul's 9, St. Mary's 2 -- St. Paul's used four goals and two assists from Patrick Powderly to defeat St. Mary's (7-7-2, 6-5-2) and win its second MIAA B Conference title and first since 2004-05. Eric Schiech added two goals for the Crusaders (16-1-1, 12-1-0), including a power-play goal with 10:34 left in the second period to put St. Paul's ahead for good, 3-2.