DANVERS — The high standards at St. John’s Prep suggest the school’s hockey team had a disappointing finish to an otherwise successful season in 2017-2018. St. John’s qualified for the “Super 8” but fell to Pope Francis in the semifinal round and ended the season at 15-5-4.
The objective for the Eagles, year in and year out, is to win their final game and bring home a state championship. St. John’s coach Kristian Hanson hopes the returners on this season’s team learned from last winter’s experiences as they gear up for another run.
“That certainly isn’t the way we wanted to end the season last year,” Hanson, entering his 12th season guiding the Eagles, said. “We lost to a good team. Pope Francis played B.C. High tough in the (Super 8) championship game. The kids worked hard. We learned a lot last year. We hope that translates into this year.”
Returning to the mix this season are junior forwards Patrick Moran, Ryan Bradley and Ryan Hart, sophomore forward Zach McKennelley, senior defenseman Tyler Raposa and junior defenseman Jack Gilligan.
Moran, Raposa and Gilligan are St. John’s captains. Hanson’s confident they’ll lead the Eagles in the right direction while helping the underclassmen fit into the program smoothly.
“Two of them are juniors,” Hanson said. “They’re a little bit young but they’re guys with experience. They played a lot of minutes last year. They’ve been there before. We hope they can bring along the guys that are newer to the program and show them the way.”
The starting goaltender’s role is currently up for grabs. Junior Jack Essensa and freshman Jackson Irving are currently competing in camp for the position. Hanson said they’ve both looked solid and have benefitted from pushing one another in competing for the role.
“They’re both being looked at,” Hanson said. “They’re both strong competitors for the job. It’s always good to have somebody pushing you.”
Per usual, the Eagles will challenge themselves from start to finish this year with a competitive schedule. The likes of Catholic Memorial, B.C. High, Xaverian and Malden Catholic will keep the Eagles on their toes in the Catholic Conference. Non-conference opponents include Hingham, Andover, Pope Francis/Central Catholic (in the Pete Frates Winter Classic) , St. John’s (Shrewsbury), Austin Prep and Danvers.
“Our conference is the strongest conference in the state,” Hanson said. “It’s always a challenge. I expect this year to be no different. B.C. High comes in as the favorite, they were the state champions last year. We have a younger group. It’ll be a challenge for them. As a coach you want to see them develop. Our goal is to compete with everyone in the league.”
The Eagles open the new season Saturday night (6) when they host Hingham at Essex Sports Center in Middleton.
