MIDDLETON — The No. 1 St. John’s Prep hockey team opened up its Division 1 tournament run with a bang Thursday evening, picking up a 3-1 win over No. 33 King Phillip in a Round of 32 game at Essex Sports Center. 

Lynnfield native Christian Rosa led the offensive attack for the Eagles with two goals and one assist, while Johnny Tighe added the other goal. Pierce Blaeser, Jake Vana and Aidan Holland each had one assist, while goalie Payton Palladino only needed seven saves to take home the win in net. 

The Prep came right out and established its dominance early on, peppering the King Phillip net with shots in the opening minutes before finding the back of the net less than three minutes in. The goal came off the stick of Rosa, who took a drop pass from Vana and slipped it past the netminder for a 1-0 Eagles lead. 

St. John’s continued to dominate time of possession for the remainder of the period, but the Eagles couldn’t get on the scoreboard again until Tighe cleaned up a loose puck in front of the net with 3:47 to play in the first. 

The Eagles continued that momentum into the second period, as Rosa netted his second goal of the day after scooping up a rebound in front of the net and stuffing it home with 10:19 to play. After getting its very first shot of the game with 10:59 left in the second, King Phillip finally stemmed the bleeding a bit when Shaun Fitzpatrick scored to make it 3-1. 

The Eagles dominated possession for the rest of the game, but couldn’t crack the goal line down the stretch. Still, the Prep was able to hold on and skate away with a solid win to start off the tournament.

St. John’s Prep (18-3-0) will now move on to the Round of 16, where it will go up against No. 16 Winchester on Monday (5:30) back at Essex Sports Center.