Randazzo, Keating lead Friars to hockey win

If these teams have their way, this won't be the last time St. Anthony's faces off against Monsignor Farrell with something on the line. Last night it was first place in the CHSHL. Another month and it could be the league hockey title.

This round went to the Friars. Nick Randazzo scored twice in a three-minute span, including the go-ahead goal with 7:52 remaining in the third period, and Sean Keating made the lead stand up in net for St. Anthony's, which topped Monsignor Farrell, 5-1, at the World Ice Arena in Flushing.

The two CHSHL powers met in a thrilling three-game set in last year's finals, with the Friars (7-1) emerging on top. St. Anthony's 2011 version is similar to its predecessor, with plenty of playmakers on offense and perhaps the best goaltender in the league in Keating.

"We anticipate that it's going to be us and them, hopefully, in the big dance," Friars coach Jeff Stelmok said. "They're always a good team, they have a deep organization, and so do we. Not to discount what the rest of the league does, but we have a lot of respect for this team."

Depending on your vantage point, each team either wasted power plays on offense or played spectacularly on defense, as the first two periods were scoreless. And that's not an easy task considering that, although each team came into the game allowing two goals or fewer to its opponents, the teams also had averaged more than three goals per game.

But the scoreless duel disappeared in the third period as Michael DeFranco took advantage of a power play to dunk in his own rebound on the left side of the net and give Monsignor Farrell (6-2) a 1-0 lead that, at that point, looked like a huge advantage.

"Right there it got a little scary," said Keating, a junior who was named top goalie in the CHSHL last season and hasn't lost a league match in the last two years. "We're known to win a lot, and once we got down it kind of woke us up a bit, and we realized, 'We got to get in this and we don't have a lot of time to do it.' "

SEE PHOTOSSt. Anthony's 5, Monsignor Farrell 1

With the goal-scoring ice broken, so to speak, the Friars opened the floodgates. Chris Wallace (two goals, one assist) scored with 10:05 left to tie the score and Randazzo put in the go-ahead goal with 7:52 remaining. He scored again 2:20 later to start a rush of three St. Anthony's goals in the waning minutes that iced the victory.

"It's all momentum," said Keating, who had 34 saves. "I think giving up that one goal got us to realize that, hey, this is a game."

And it likely won't be the last big one between these two teams.