Reading boys defeat Braintree to win Div. 1 state hockey title

Reading boys hockey may not have gotten much attention heading into the 2014 MIAA tournament, but they proved all of their doubters wrong on Sunday, as the Rockets took down the Braintree Wamps 4-1 to win the Div. 1 state championship.

Reading was the No. 12 seed in the North sectionals, but went on a stretch of beating the No. 5, No. 4, No. 1, and No. 3 seeds to win the North before taking down the South’s No. 1 team in Braintree.

“We definitely caught fire at the right time,’’ said senior goaltender Ian Lapham. “We were in a little slump right there in the middle [of the season], but we got the wins against those easy couple of teams and then we beat some better teams.

“We were just on fire and kept going right from there, and we knew that we couldn’t let up if we wanted to win this tournament.’’

Lapham grabbed the win in his last start for Reading hockey, allowing just one goal, while his Braintree counterpart, senior Nick Anson, allowed three through two periods.

“Nothing feels better than proving people wrong,’’ said junior Sean Verrier. “[As a] 12 seed everyone said ‘You guys are going to get knocked out first round, or second round.’ Every round they kept saying ‘you’re going to lose’ and we just kept going.’’

Senior Jake Barbera gave Reading the first goal of the game, scoring 7:13 into the first period off of a feed from fellow senior Michael Thomson. Junior Mike Seibold also assisted on the play.

“I squeezed by the defender and I saw Barbera there, so he just put one home,’’ Thomson said. “They were giving us trouble coming out of our zone; they had a good two man forecheck, and we had a little trouble with it, but we got through it.’’

After Braintree’s Gino LaRossa was assessed a minor penalty for tripping, Reading capitalized on a power play goal by Matt Thomson, assisted by Verrier and Seibold to put Reading up 2-0, a lead that they would hold to end the period.

“We were just coming back in the zone and a couple times we came up and struggled a bit, but once we got in [it clicked],’’ Verrier said. “[Matt] has a great shot; [he] just picked it from right where he was.’’

Braintree got a chance to come back in the game in the second when Matt Thomson went off for a hooking call, but the Rockets penalty kill didn’t allow the Wamps to score. Braintree did cut the deficit to one with 4:46 to play, as Nick Ward beat Lapham to make it 2-1, with Kyle Leslie getting the assist.

Reading struck back two and half minutes later, when Verrier got a pass from Seibold, deked around a Braintree defender, and wristed one past Anson to put Reading back up by two going into the final period.

“I actually thought Seibold was going to shoot that one, but then he slide across and I got it out of the corner of my eye,’’ Verrier said. “The defenseman overplayed me, and I just shifted over and put one on net.

“I would have been just as happy had anyone else had gotten it, but you know it’s a great feeling putting one home and extending the lead by another one to give us some insurance.’’

In the third period, both teams held their defensive ground, and Braintree got another power play to try and cut into the Reading lead as Seibold headed off for cross checking with 5:10 to play. Reading was again successful on the penalty kill and controlled the puck for most of the final minutes.

Michael Thomson sent the Reading fans into a frenzy when he shot one into Braintree’s empty net, putting the Rockets up 4-1 and clinching the state championship.

“I can’t even explain it, I can’t,’’ Thomson said when asked about the empty netter. “I don’t know what to say; it was awesome.’’

The Reading players had some big shoes to fill, as they were returning to the same Garden ice that saw the 2008 Rockets team become the first public school to win the Division 1A “Super 8’’ championship.

“We had more pressure on us, because six years ago they won [the Super 8],’’ Michael Thomson said. “[We] just wanted to do it again, and we did it, so it’s pretty awesome.’’

“We made it this far; we knew that getting here was awesome, but you can’t stop there, we had to finish, and we did today, so it was pretty crazy.’’