Devon Maloof had just played perhaps his best game of last winter’s hockey season as the goalie for Franklin High. And he was immediately told he would be the backup from there on out.

It was early March, and the 5-foot-5 Maloof had done his job, probably one of the hardest in sports, in a 3-2 win over Xaverian with the number one playoff seed on the line. Stopping pucks in crunch time is the equivalent of a quarterback successfully leading the two-minute offense. To prove that he could do it here should pave the way for more, with the playoffs ready to begin the very next day.