MIDDLETON — If the St. John’s Prep hockey team wanted to come out and make a statement this weekend, it’s safe to say it did just that.
With a 5-1 victory over the No. 2-ranked Catholic Memorial Knights Saturday afternoon at Essex Sports Center, the Eagles — who are the No. 1 team in Division 1 according to the latest MIAA power rankings — took full control of their destiny both in the Catholic Conference and in the hunt for the state tournament.
“The guys were focused and prepared for this one,” said St. John’s Prep coach Kristian Hanson. “They knew the importance of the game in the conference and they were ready to go from the start.”
Jake Vana led the scoring attack for the Prep with one goal and one assist, while Aiden Holland, Tommy Sarni, Ben McGilvray and Harlan Graber each scored one goal. Theo Vetere notched two assists, while Tom Tilas, Jimmy Ayers, Johnny Tighe and Zack Raposa each had one assist. Goalie Peyton Palladino stopped 18 shots to earn the victory in net.
The Prep got off to a furious start on the offensive side in this one, scoring three goals in the first period and never looking back.
The first came just five minutes into play, when Tilas took the puck and sent a pass across the blue line to Holland, who reared back and slapped one home. Less than three minutes later, Graber cleaned up a loose puck in front of the net to double up the score. And after Sarni netted his team-leading ninth goal on a five-on-three powerplay opportunity, the Eagles took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.
The second period went by largely without incident, but there were some sparks in the final seconds. With the Eagles once again on the powerplay, Vetere sent a shot in from the blue line that McGilvray got a stick on and tipped into the net to make it a 4-0 game after two periods.
The third period was much of the same, with no scoring through the first 14 minutes of play and some fireworks at the end. This time, it was Vana who effectively sealed the win when he took a long, two-line pass from Tilas and got in all alone to make it a 5-0 game.
Still, Catholic Memorial continued to fight and it paid off with a goal. With less than 30 seconds to play in the game, Tyler Hamilton took a pass from Connor Fryberger and buried it to spoil the shutout attempt for Palladino and the Eagles.
St. John’s Prep (9-1-0) is back at home Monday afternoon (3:30) for a game against Andover.
