BOSTON — The game may have started more than an hour late Sunday night at the TD Garden, but the action was red-hot from the very beginning as the No. 1 St. John’s Prep hockey team went up against No. 2 Xaverian in the Division 1 state championship game.
But in the end, it was the Eagles who soared above the Hawks as the Prep scored two goals in the final four minutes of the second period to pull away and notch a 6-2 win and capture the state title.
Lynnfield native Tommy Sarni had four goals and two assists for the Eagles to lead the way.
Aidan Holland and Cole Blaeser each had one goal and one assist. Will Van Sicklin, also a Lynnfield native, had one assist, as did Theo Vetere and Pierce Blaeser. Goalie Payton Palladino made 13 saves.
It was the last two periods that made the difference for the Eagles, who outscored Xaverian 5-0 over the final two frames.
The action got going right away in the first period, as physical play on both sides led to an early penalty on Xaverian. The Eagles quickly took advantage, as Holland took a pass from Van Sicklin at the blue line and sent it down to Sarni in the lower right circle, where he ripped a wrist shot under the crossbar for the powerplay goal to make it 1-0 less than two minutes into the game.
But that elation was short-lived, as just 37 seconds later Xaverian got a 2-on-1 rush going the other way. Jack Silva took the puck up the ice and slipped a pass across to Braden O’Hara, who knocked home the one-timer to knot the score up.
While the rest of the period went by in an even fashion, Xaverian was able to gain some momentum after the Prep was called for a five-minute major elbowing penalty with less than five minutes to go.
Xaverian came up empty on that powerplay, but the Hawks still took that momentum into the second period. It finally boiled over with 12:55 to play, when Jake Curley smacked home a loose puck in front of the net to give Xaverian a 2-1 lead.
About six minutes later, after a powerplay opportunity came up empty for the Prep, the Eagles found a spark. Vetere took control of the puck and brought it up ice, feeding a quick pass to Sarni. While the initial shot was stopped by Xaverian goalie Brendan Flanagan, the rebound bounced right out to Cole Blaeser’s stick — and he promptly buried it to knot things up at 2-2.
That momentum seemed to propel the Eagles forward, as they netted two goals in the final four minutes of the frame to take a 4-2 lead into the final period. The first goal came courtesy of Holland, who ripped a shot from the slot on the powerplay to make it 3-2. Less than two minutes later, Sarni found the back of the net for the second time off of a feed from Cole Blaeser.
The third period saw the Eagles stretch things out with two empty-net goals — both courtesy of Sarni — to skate away with the victory.
St. John’s Prep finishes the season at 22-3-0.
