Key Goal Rallies DeMatha Past Gonzaga

With just more than seven minutes remaining in yesterday's Mid-Atlantic Prep Hockey League semifinal at Gardens Ice House in Laurel, No. 2 DeMatha found itself perilously close to coming up short in its defense of the league title. The Stags had found the net just once on five power-play opportunities in the second period, and trailed No. 6 Gonzaga by a goal as the third period wound down. Then Mike Willliams came up with the goal of the season.

Playing a man down following a tripping penalty, the DeMatha junior ripped home a short-handed goal from just inside the blueline to tie the game, and the Stags' Casey Thrush scored a breakaway goal 92 seconds later to propel DeMatha to a 5-2 victory.

The Stags (21-16-2) will play in the league's second championship game tomorrow night against Baltimore's Calvert Hall, a 3-1 winner over No. 4 Landon in the other semifinal. Gonzaga, despite getting a goal from junior Sam Gerdano 39 seconds into the game and for much of the contest playing more physically than DeMatha, ended the season 12-7-2.

"I was scared. I did not want to lose this game," Williams said. "I did everything I could to pump our guys up, and we found ways to pull it together, piece by piece, to get it done and get the 'W'. That's our game. We get our shots on net, play the body, and play every aspect of the game."

It took a two-man advantage for DeMatha to tie the game at 1 in the second period, with Williams assisting on a goal by Mike Nowicki. But with 2 minutes 39 seconds left in the period, after DeMatha failed to score on another power play, Gonzaga's Alex Bodenheimer scored on a slap shot from just inside the blueline through a perfect screen.

"We battled to the very end, our guys shouldn't be ashamed of anything," Gonzaga Coach Nate Jackson said. "But I'll give DeMatha credit, they kept coming, played an unbelievable game."

In the other game, Landon junior Will Korengold scored late in the first period to tie the score at 1, but the Cardinals, champions of Baltimore's MIAA league, scored the next two for their seventh straight victory.

Langley on the Rise

Among the many teams hoping to prevent Stone Bridge from repeating in the Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League tournament, which begins tomorrow night, the most intriguing might be a dark horse, Langley.

The Saxons (9-7-1, 7-2-1 NVSHL) have flown under the radar largely because of a slow start, a tough schedule and several injuries. When they failed to score against top-ranked Stone Bridge in a 4-0 defeat on Jan. 23, the Saxons' NVSHL record fell to 3-2-1.

Langley rebounded, however, by closing the regular season with four straight league victories, and one of its strengths -- goaltending -- is the very thing that propelled Woodbridge and Osbourn Park to upsets of the then-undefeated Bulldogs in the 2006 and 2007 title games, respectively.

Under the tutelage of goaltending coach Steve Schmitz, Saxons junior Brett Hatfield has allowed 1.77 goals per game this season and just one total in the last three games. His last two have been shutouts.

"And it's not just shutouts," Langley Coach Rob Faktorow said. "He's making some great saves."

Hatfield also has been aided by the presence of captain Ben Salzer, who missed the Saxons' first few games with a back injury and then moved from forward to defense toward the end of the regular season. . . .

The Maryland Scholastic Hockey League semifinals are tonight at Gardens Ice House in Laurel. Defending champion Wootton (14-1) faces Easton (13-0) at 5, and Glenelg (13-0) takes on Linganore (12-2-1) at 7:30. The winners meet Saturday night. . . .

The Post's Top 10 rankings will resume at the conclusion of the postseason.