SALEM — From the moment Matty Pappalardo’s alarm rang, nearly 12 hours before the puck dropped, the Salem star could feel something special was in store.
“From the second I woke up I was so excited to play and had a good feeling,” said the Eagle-Tribune area’s leader in goals. “It was a late one (8:15 p.m. start), so there was a lot of waiting. But once we finally got out on the ice we played our game and just killed it.”
Pappalardo recorded a hat trick, and Mitchell McGinn scored the game-changing go-ahead goal with 6:53 left in regulation as No. 3 Salem downed upset-minded No. 6 Pinkerton in the New Hampshire Division 1 quarterfinals.
“This is an amazing win,” said Mitchell McGinn. “We haven’t gone to the state semis in a long time. We came out and played. We stayed relaxed in the tough points, we kept pressuring and we finished off an amazing win.”
With the victory, Salem earns its first trip to the Division 1 semifinals since the 2005-06 season.
The Blue Devils (14-3-2) will take on No. 2 seed Concord (16-3-0) on Wednesday at the JFK Rink in Manchester (5:30 p.m.) Salem took the regular season matchup 4-3 on Feb. 17.
“We can’t wait,” said Pappalardo. “We are going to go out, give it all we can in the semis and hope to keep winning.”
For a time late in Saturday’s matchup, however, it looked as if Pinkerton could be on the verge of a playoff upset.
With Salem leading 3-1, Edward Welch cut the advantage to one goal with 1:04 left in the second. Then, midway through the third, Nathan Laliberte found a loose puck and buried it to make it 3-3, giving the Astros the momentum.
But McGinn — the area’s leader in points with 44 — turned the tide.
The puck found the sophomore’s stick near the right faceoff circle in the Pinkerton zone and McGinn fired home a slap shot to give his team the lead back with 6:53 left.
“I was hoping someone would put it home,” said Salem head coach Mark McGinn, Mitchell’s father. “That was a big one to get us over the edge when we needed it. Then Matty P took over and we finished it off.”
Just 1:03 after the McGinn goal, Pappalardo buried his second of the day to extend the lead to 5-3.
Then, with the clock running down, Pappalardo finished off his hat trick with a long shot into an empty net. That led a pair of overzealous Blue Devil fans to throw their hats onto the ice.
The three scores gives Pappalado an area-high 24 for the season, and it was his whopping fifth hat trick of the year.
“That Mitch goal really got our wheels turning,” said Pappalardo. “That got our heads up. Then I got the boys going with my goal, and then we were really rolling. Then the hat trick was a pretty sweet feeling, especially in the playoffs.”
Dylan Salvo and Kevin McGuire each added single goals for the Devils, and Alec Svenson had four assists.
Also turning in a huge performance was Salem goalie Paddy Capsalis, who made 33 saves including a few crucial stops in the third including one from his stomach. Pinkerton’s Dakota Robinson made 28 saves against a relentless Blue Devil attack.
Salem will now face Concord with the hopes of advancing to the Division 1 state title game for the first time since the 2004-05 season, the year after they took home the first hockey state title in Eagle-Tribune area history.
“I’m so excited,” said Mitchell McGinn. “If we play like we have been playing we think we can win that game and maybe make it to the final.”
Salem 6, Pinkerton 3
Division 1 quarterfinal
Pinkerton (11-7-1): 1 1 1 — 3
Salem (14-3-2): 2 1 3 — 6
N.H. Division 1 Quarterfinals
Goals: S — Matty Pappalardo 3, Mitchell McGinn, Kevin McGuire, Dylan Salvo; P — Patrick Hare, Edward Welch, Nathan Laliberte
Assists: S — Alec Svenson 4, McGinn, Aidan Breen, McGuire; P — Nick Trask, Colin Leighton, Gennaro Marra, Brendan Banks
Saves: S — Paddy Capsalis 33; P — Dakota Robinson 28
...
Reach sportswriter/videographer David Willis on Twitter at @DWillisET
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