Marlboro, MA – In a Catholic Conference matchup, the 2nd-ranked Eagles of St. John’s Prep traveled to the New England Sports Center in Marlborough to take on the home team, 3rd-ranked St. John’s Shrewsbury.
It’s no secret that these teams are familiar with one another’s play style and how to slow each other down. Both teams played disciplined, structured and detailed through the first part of the period, each with only a couple of chances on net. SJP took a penalty with 12:44 to go in the period, giving SJS the first chance of the game on the power play. SJP locked down defensively, got in shooting lanes and did a great job killing the penalty and it would pay off for them. Junior forward Chase Brown picked up the puck after a SJS defender fumbled it at the blue line and went in on a breakaway. Brown got a quick shot off, beating junior goalie Colin McCarthy blocker side to give SJP the 1-0 lead. McCarthy would stay busy, as SJP caused two turnovers in the slot towards the end of their penalty kill and had two great scoring chances but he denied both of them. SJS had their best scoring chance around the nine minute mark when an SJP defenseman pinched and an SJS forward chipped the puck by him and went in on a 2-on-1. They executed it well with a great pass to the wide open forward in the slot. Sophomore goalie Jesse Bernardinelli did a great job reading the play and slid over to make a big save. SJS took a couple of penalties down the stretch and to end the period, but SJP couldn’t capitalize on either of them. McCarthy was great in net and made some big saves to keep the game 1-0 at the end of the first.
The second period belonged to SJS as they dominated all three zones all period and took advantage of special teams to score three goals and take the lead. Their first goal came on the power play with 13:09 to go in the period. Sophomore Matthew McGinty got the puck off the faceoff and sent it up to Ryder Bisson on the blue line. Bisson quickly sent the puck across the blue line to his brother Kevin Bisson, who took a step in and ripped the shot past Bernardinelli to tie the game at 1-1. SJS would go on the power play again with 10 minutes to go in the period and once again Ryder would get on the scoresheet. The SJP defenseman tried to clear the puck out of the zone, but it deflected off senior Connor Secrist and Bisson kept it in at the top of the blue line. He walked down the slot and fired a shot by Bernardinelli to give SJS the 2-1 lead. With five minutes left in the period, SJS took a penalty which was quickly negated when SJP took their own penalty, 10 seconds later. It was a fairly even four-on-four session, but SJS would capitalize on the man up again. Sophomore Nico Santella went in on a partial breakaway and was stopped, with the rebound bouncing out to junior Jaydon Wrzosek who had his shot stopped as well. Santella picked up the rebound to the left of Bernardinelli who had lost his stick and fired it 5 hole to give SJS the 3-1 lead. Although Bernardinelli gave up three goals in the period, he was fantastic, making multiple saves to keep the game close.
SJS picked up where they left off in the 2nd, scoring just 20 seconds into the 3rd period. SJS was regrouping and Ryder Bisson went D-to-D with his brother Kevin just inside their blue line. Kevin tried to hit Santella with a long stretch pass. The pass hit off an SJP defenseman and bounced right to Santella in front of Bernardinelli and he slipped it under him quickly to extend their lead to 4-1. SJP made a push for the next few minutes but McCarthy was solid in net and turned away everything that was shot at him. SJS took back-to-back penalties at the 10 and six minute marks, giving SJP a window to try to get back into the game, but it wasn’t to be. SJS was tenacious on their penalty kill and McCarthy made a handful of great saves to deny any chance SJP threw at him. Towards the end of the second penalty, SJS would get a shorthanded goal and put the game completely out of reach. Ryder Bisson picked up a puck on the wall and hit Wrzosek with a stretch pass through the neutral zone. Wrzosek got inside the circle and snapped a quick shot past Bernardinelli to extend their lead to 5-1. The rest of the period got chippy with each team taking penalties, and the game would end with SJS getting the 5-1 win.
Three Stars:
- F Nico Santella, SJS
- D Ryder Bisson, SJS
- D Kevin Bisson, SJS