It’s a play Providence center Jake Rott has often practiced.
Win the face-off in the opponent’s end, push the puck through the legs of the defender and let a quick shot loose, hoping to surprise the goalie.
It looks as difficult as it sounds.
Rott, though, executed that move 25 seconds into Sunday’s winner-take-all Game 3 of the Kennedy Cup Finals against Benet.
The score ignited a three-goal first-period outburst and lifted Providence to a 5-1 win over Benet at Arctic Ice Arena.
The Kennedy Cup championship is the second in three years for the Celtics (57-11-1), who bounced back from a 5-2 loss to New Trier Green on Friday in the Blackhawk Cup state championship game. The defending Kennedy Cup champion Redwings, who have advanced to five consecutive finals, fell short for the third time during that span.
“We work on that play in practice,” said Rott, who led the Catholic League in scoring. “I was kind of surprised (it worked). Just trying to get some shots on goal.”
Despite being pushed to a Game 3, Providence led for all but 11.4 seconds of this series. Benet coach Jon Grzbek stressed the importance of getting a lead to his players in Game 3.
“When you constantly fall behind, it’s tough,” Grzbek said. “We gave up the first goal here and it’s a killer. You can’t constantly give up first goals and win Kennedy Cups.”
If Rott’s quick tally wasn’t enough of a stunner, goals by Jack McConnell and Mike Altobelli before the first period ended certainly were. The first two games of the series were nail-biters. Providence earned a 5-4 win in Game 1 while Benet (48-5-1) countered with a 3-2 overtime win in Game 2.
Game 3 was expected to follow a similar path.
However, when McConnell redirected a slap shot from Mike Cascino on the power play that made it 2-0 with 6:26 left in the opening period, it looked like it could be a long night for the Redwings.
“We were just yelling to the guys to get in front of the net and he (McConnell) made a beautiful tip,” Providence coach Nick Iaciancio said.
Altobelli’s goal was a thing of beauty. The senior defenseman fooled a Benet defender while flying up the ice and eventually beat goalie Jake Barnhart for a 3-0 advantage with 4:25 remaining in the first.
“I saw an opening and walked around one kid,” Altobelli said. “I’m offensive. The coaches have been yelling at me all year to do that.”
While Benet cut the deficit to 3-1 before the first period ended on a goal by Patrick Maxwell, the Redwings never drew closer. Providence goalie Ryan Iaciancio made certain of it, stepping up with key saves.
Joe Strick padded the Celtics lead on a short-handed breakaway in the second period and Rott added an empty-netter in the third period to make it 5-1.
Providence made it a point to throw its weight around and big checks by Rudy Magana, Mike Massaro and Cascino resulted in Benet players either sprawling to the ice or crashing into the boards.
“We were able to sustain some pressure and dictated what we wanted to do,” Nick Iaciancio said. “It means everything to me to win this.”
Twitter @disabato
