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By ERIC BENEVIDES Sports writer PAWTUCKET --- Defense was one of the big reasons why Burrillville High knocked off a couple of Division 1 teams during the regular season's crossover action en route to a 12-4 record and first place in the Division 1-A ranks.
It's also a big reason why the Broncos will be playing in this weekend's championship series at Providence College's Schneider Arena.
Senior goaltender Jon Henault had his second straight superb night between the pipes for the top-seeded Broncos, who held off a game Lincoln High squad for a thrilling 2-1 triumph and a sweep of their best-of-three semifinal-round series on Saturday night at Lynch Arena.
The Broncos advance to the championship series, which is expected to begin on Thursday night at Providence College's Schneider Arena. This will be Burrillville's first trip to PC in three years, when they claimed the Division 2 title -- the sixth state crown in the team's history.
"I have been so impressed with these kids this year," added first-year Burrillville coach Steve Daigle. "They only won two or three games last year, but they just came to play this year. We had to make some changes to get them back in that winning mode again. We just went back to basic hockey and stressed a positive attitude. We really pushed them to be positive with each other, and once we got them going and thinking our way, the team just came together."
Henault, who had 31 saves in the Broncos' 4-1 victory over the fourth-seeded Lions in Friday's series opener, turned away 24 shots in the series clincher, but mixed among those stops were some beauties and no save was bigger than the one he had in the second period on a penalty shot by the Lions' Nathan Duquette with his team clinging to a 2-1 edge.
The Lions had a golden opportunity to knot the score at 6:32 when they were awarded a penalty shot after a Burrillville player put his hand on the puck in the crease during a scramble. Duquette, the Lions' leading scorer during the regular season, was called upon to take the shot, but when he skated in on Henault, he fired it right at his chest.
"Jon had another great game, but I thought our whole defense played very well," said Daigle, who highly commended the efforts of defensemen Justin Misiaszek, Tim L'Esperance, and Brian Molloy. "In our Division 1-A games, we only had 14 goals scored against us. Henault's been great, but the rest of our defense has also been fabulous."
The Lions, who graduate just three seniors from their 5-14-1 team, also received a fabulous performance from their goalie, junior Mark Bushy, who followed up his 32-save effort on Friday night with a more impressive 36-stop showing.
"Last night wasn't his best game, but it was a good one," said Lincoln co-coach Denis Riel. "Tonight was clearly Mark's night, but any time we hold a team to two goals, we should win that game. But credit Jon Henault again. He did a solid job in the pipes. I thought he was beatable and looked a little bit off-focused, bu we just couldn't finish."
The Lions drew first blood 5:28 into the game on an unassisted goal by Duquette, but the Broncos knotted the score five minutes later on a power-play goal by John Hanley, who corralled a long pass from Molloy, took off on a breakaway, and beat Bushy with a low shot.
The Broncos then scored the go-ahead goal 1:58 into the second period courtesy of their third line, as Cole Caron rifled in the rebound of a shot by Hanley, who tried to tuck in a pass by Jeff San Antonio.
"Our third line -- we call it the yellow line -- they really picked up their pace so we were able to go 1-2-3 with our lines for most of the game," said Daigle. "That was a big goal by that line."
The Lions did their best to produce the equalizer, especially in the waning minutes of the contest, but Henault came up big on a handful of chances to foil their comeback attempt.
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Burrillville 1 - 1 - 0 -- 2
Lincoln 1 - 0 - 0 -- 1
First period: L -- Nathan Duquette (unassisted), 5:28; B -- John Hanley (Brian Molloy), power play, 10:30.
Second period: L -- Cole Caron (John Hanley, Jeff San Antonio), 1:58.
Third period: No scoring.
Shots on goal: Burrillville 38, Lincoln 25. Goalie saves: B -- Jon Henault (24 saves); L -- Mark Bushy (36 saves).
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