Toll Gate ends the national-record 26-year reign of Mount St. Charles with a sweep of their series.

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, March 21, 2004

BY JOHN GILLOOLY
Journal Sports Writer

PROVIDENCE -- For 15 years Toll Gate has been proving that a public school team could be competitive in Rhode Island's elite high school hockey division.

Last night the Titans achieved the ultimate goal -- they ended Mount St. Charles' 26-year reign as state champion.

The Titans became the first public school team in 29 years to win the state title when they completed a sweep of the best-of-three series against Mount with a 4-0 victory at PC's Schnedier Arena. Toll Gate won the first game of the series Friday night, 4-3.

An MVP performance by goaltender Brad Valois and goals by four players helped the Titans end the longest string of consecutive state championships by any American high school team in any sport.

"I can't even describe the feeling," said Dave Cavanagh, the Toll Gate junior defenseman who scored one of the goals.

"I've been watching it for so many years and seeing them (Mount) do it every year," continued Cavanagh, who was the water boy for the 1996 Toll Gate team that lost to Mount in a three-game title series.

"I was right there when they (Toll Gate) almost did it at Brown that year. I knew what it felt like to be part of a team. Now this is unbelievable. Not many people counted us in at the beginning of the year, but we knew what we had. We were ready to go."

Cavanagh's goal at 6:08 of the third period gave Toll Gate a 3-0 lead and took virtually any remaining suspense out of a game that had been a defensive standoff for almost two periods.

Toll Gate, which had lost three of four regular-season games to Mount, never trailed in the title series. But the Titans didn't score their first goal last night until 11:07 of the second period. They added another goal just over a minute later for a 2-0 lead going into the third period. Then Cavanagh settled the issue

with his unassisted effort. The Titans' Chris Labella closed out the scoring with an open-net goal at 14:43.

Mount St. Charles had the first opportunity to score early in the game when Toll Gate picked up a penalty only two minutes after the opening face-off. But the Mounties didn't get a shot on the cage during the two-minute advantage. In fact, the Mounties didn't get their first shot at Toll Gate netminder Brad Valois until the six-minute mark of the opening session and had only two shots in the first 14 minutes of play.

Toll Gate had the best opportunity to open the scoring when two penalties were called on Mount St. Charles within seven seconds midway through the first period.

The Titans managed four shots at Mount goalie Derek Soter from within 10 feet while enjoying the two-man advantage, but Soter answered each challenge.

Although the Mount managed only two shots in the first 14 minutes, Valois needed to make a couple of good saves in the final minute to keep the score deadlocked at the end of the opening session.

After being outshot, 7-4, in the first 15 minutes Mount began controling the action in the second period. By the five-minute mark of the second session the Mounties were outshooting the Titans. But Valois came up with several big saves, including a couple of acrobatic stops on rebound attempts.

Toll Gate finally broke the scoreless deadlock at 11:07 of the second period when Pat Aldridge's pass-out from the right corner, deflected off the skate of a Mount St. Charles defenseman and slid past Soter.

Once they had the first goal the Titans didn't waste much time increasing the advantage. Sophomore Matt Sheridan upped the lead to 2-0 just under two minutes after Aldridge's goal when he banged home a rebound from the left side.

Mount continually kept the pressure in the Toll Gate end, but a combination of a solid defense that didn't let the Mounties got off many good shots and Valois' goaltending perserved the shutout.

"We knew they would come out flying," Valois said. "But my defense gave me all the help I could possibly ask. I was scrambling, but they (defense) also was doing a lot of scrambling. We just helped each other. If they made a mistake I covered it and if I made a mistake they covered it."

Valois finished with 21 saves compared with 14 for Soter in the Mount net.

Toll Gate moved up to the Interscholastic League's top hockey division for the 1988-89 season when there were no other public school teams in the division. For several years the Titans were the only public school team in the division. This season, Toll Gate and Warwick Vets were the only public schools in the Championship Division.

"They took what they came here for," Toll Gate coach Will Parker said about the Titans. "They knew all along that we have something special in a public school. Our kids have been together since they have been 5 or 6 years old. They wanted this."

The last public school team to win a state title before the Titans ended the Mount string last night was East Providence in 1975.

"Our kids played their hearts out," said Mount coach Bill Belisle. "I couldn't ask for any more than they gave. It had to happen sooner or later. Ten years ago I said that. I feel bad for the seniors, but every period they gave it all they got."