READING – Coming off a one-goal loss to No. 19 Braintree two days prior, in the exact kind of game that shows the Div. 1 parity of this year compared to most, No. 1 Pope Francis bounced back Monday afternoon with a 3-0 win over No. 5 Reading in an endowment game at Burbank Ice Arena.

The top two teams in the latest MIAA Div. 1 power rankings battled neck-and-neck for much of the way, though two goals in the final six minutes and a 25-save shutout from senior star goalie Nick Ritchie sealed a meaningful win for the Cardinals (10-2).

“Reading’s a great team, it was good to play them,” said Pope Francis head coach Brian Foley. “I think it was two pretty even teams. I’ve seen a lot of that this year, quite honestly, with parity. Just a lot of good teams, it’s really wide open. … It’s nice, with our schedule, we’ve pretty much got a good chance of playing everybody that we’re going to see. So, if at the end of the day, we end up playing them (in the tournament), I think this game’s important for that.”

Owen Holland (24 saves) impressed opposite Ritchie for the Rockets (7-1-1), keeping the Cardinals off the board for the first 25 minutes. That included a 13-save first period in which Pope Francis maintained the offensive zone for a few long stints to really challenge Reading’s defense.

A 2-on-1 with 4:36 left in the second period finally ended the stalemate, though, as Liam Dolan dished the first of his two highlight-reel assists. The junior held the puck on the right wing until the very last second he could to bait the defender, and he sent it just in front of a back-checking Rocket to Joe Orszulak at the backdoor for the goal.

It was then Dolan’s pretty back-handed feed from the goal line to Matteo Cuccovia in the slot with 5:47 left in the third period that gave Pope Francis insurance with a 2-0 lead, before Matt Regan’s tally with 18 seconds left capped off the scoring.

“(Dolan) is skilled, he’s talented,” Foley said. “He’s really a gifted goal-scorer. So he’s got a lot of skill, but today he played gritty. It was good to see him get rewarded with those two great assists.”

The first insurance goal looked crucial, too, with how Reading threatened for an equalizer. But Ritchie’s composure in net showed Pope Francis didn’t need it.

Twice the Rockets generated wide-open opportunities in the slot behind the defense in the second period, including one on the penalty kill. Ritchie stonewalled both of them. And as Reading peppered Ritchie with 11 shots in the third – mostly through traffic from the point – he saw them all to hold onto the shutout.

“Well that’s Nick, right?” Foley said. “He’s a great goalie, he always gives us a chance. … The team you’re playing is going to get chances. You need your goalie to step up big, and he did that again today like he’s been doing for three years.”

Blocking shots was a point of emphasis for Pope Francis in its practice Sunday, which it got at least seven of in the first period to keep activity off Ritchie. Foley felt Dolan did well with it and was pleased with how the group did as a whole.

“That shows how committed you are to winning,” he said. “We had a good effort. Probably our most blocked shots this year was today, so that was encouraging.”