RallyNorth.net

Sat, Jan 26, 2008 02:30 PM @ St. John's

Team	1	2	3	Final
B.C. High	0	0	2	2
St. John's	2	1	0	3

Well-rounded Eagles knock off B.C. High

Sunday, January, 27 By Phil Stacey
Sports editor

Where do you start?

Just which superlative was the St. John's Prep hockey team's best on Saturday afternoon, when they completed a two-game season sweep of the defending state champions from B.C. High with a satisfying 3-2 victory at the Ristuccia Arena?

Perhaps it was the Eagles' fast start, in which they shot out to a 2-0 lead in the first and led by three goals less than three minutes into the middle stanza | something they've had trouble doing all season.

Or maybe it was the fact that they didn't fold in the face of some pressure, when the visitors from Columbia Point scored two quick goals to open the third, but never managed to get the equalizer against a resilient Eagles' defense.

How about the fact that they killed all seven man-down situations they faced | including a pair of 5-on-3 disadvantages | while scoring on their only power play? And what about the Prep's much maligned offense, which seemed to be getting all of its scoring production from the top unit, getting scores from all three of their forward lines?

Better yet, maybe it was the fact that the Prep, to a member, did everything they could to get in front of pucks shot by B.C. High skaters in an effort to block them. The tactic worked; after amassing just a single blocked shot in their previous game | a 3-0 shutout loss at Xaverian | the Eagles were magnificent getting in the way of the black rubber disc Saturday, blocking 13 shots.

In reality, the answer to the question posed at the top of this story is simple: all of the above.

"This was a big turnaround game, something that will hopefully get us pointed in the right direction," first line winger Danny Haugh said, having dished out two assists in the game. "To beat B.C. High twice in one season ... that really says something for us. We put it all together in this one."

Getting 27 saves from senior goaltender Kyle Pettoruto and solid up-and-down play from all 10 forwards and five defensemen who saw ice time, the Eagles (6-4-3) rebounded from a duo of poor performances to turn in arguably their best of the season.

It couldn't have come at a better time, either: the state's top-ranked team, Catholic Memorial, comes to the North Shore Wednesday night (8 p.m.) to meet St. John's Prep in a rare contest at Salem State College's Rockett Arena | which will no doubt be packed to the gills.

"If we play CM the way we played B.C. (Saturday)," said Pettoruto, "that would be fantastic."

On the strength of goals by the team's leading scorer, Christian Cowles (his 11th), a power play snipe by senior left wing Steve DiCarlo (his 4th) and a second period score by third liner Justin DiRienzo (also his 4th), the Eagles stormed out of the locker room with the words of their coaches burning in their ears: this was the biggest game of their season, and it was up to them to respond.

"We told them that someone had to step up, and presented them with the 'Why Not Me?' scenario," said Prep head coach Kristian Hanson, taking a page out of Red Sox hurler Curt Schilling's motivational slogans. "We stressed the need to sacrifice the body and block shots, and they did a terrific job in that regard. And Kyle was phenomenal in net."

Pettoruto, who raised his season record to 5-2-1, said he and his teammates understood how much this contest meant in the big picture.

"This game was our season, as far as (hoping to qualify for) the Super 8 (tournament) goes," he said. "We all knew it. We had to have this one."

Haugh, who credited the Prep coaching staff for getting them so prepared for Saturday, said the team also worked diligently on creating traffic in front of the opposing goalie | in this case, B.C. High's 6-foot-2 junior, Sam Marotta (21 saves) | and winning the majority of faceoffs, which the Eagles did.

"We worked on screening him and making it difficult for him to see shots," said the 18-year-old, who did just that on DiCarlo's power play goal in the first. "It's those little things that win you games."