MIDDLETON – One of the primary targets the St. John’s Prep boys hockey crew units for the season is successful the Pete Frates Winter Classic in honor of their legendary late alum.
For the primary time since 2015 and simply the second time ever, the Eagles lastly delivered Thursday night – on Frates’ birthday.
Senior Jake Vana gathered the puck by his personal blue line and out-skated the final defender on a breakaway, went to his backhand, and flipped within the game-winning purpose in additional time to propel No. 7 St. John’s Prep (4-1) to a 1-0 win over No. 3 Pope Francis (3-3).
Junior AJ Farese received event MVP with consecutive shutouts, posting 11 of his 21 saves within the ultimate interval as fatigue began to put on down the Eagles.
With the win, St. John’s Prep will get revenge from the loss to Pope Francis in final yr’s Div. 1 state semifinal.
“Winning it on Pete’s birthday in the Frates tournament is probably about as special as it gets,” stated Eagles head coach Kristian Hanson. “That’s one of the goals we set at the beginning of every year, is Frates. It’s nice that we can check that box today.”
“You can’t make this stuff up,” added Vana, who has Frates’ photograph on his locker. “On his birthday, playing against the team we lost to last year. And I mean, obviously what Pete Frates has done for not only the Prep community, but the entire world. … Winning this after not winning it for the last 10 years, it was just unbelievable.”
The need to take this yr’s event championship confirmed in a defensive grind, with each teams racking up blocked photographs by means of all of regulation. Neither crew allowed many high-quality appears to get by means of, not even on a mixed six energy performs as penalty kill items surged. And on no matter did get by means of, Farese and Cardinals goalie Nick Ritchie (26 saves) stored the sport scoreless for 53 minutes.
That included a giant third interval for Farese, reaching for a troublesome glove save and withstanding a three-shot flurry within the closing minutes of regulation.
“I think Pope Francis is a really strong team, at times I thought they outplayed us,” Hanson stated. “(Farese) was there to have out back when we needed him most. He was phenomenal today. Without him, we don’t win the game. But every piece matters.”
His efforts this event had been a little bit of a breakout for the first-year starter, posting shutouts in opposition to high-quality groups in consecutive video games.
“I feel the boys really embraced the whole idea of Pete Frates,” Farese stated. “They really took battle today, the D helped me out a lot. Just tried to win it for him and we did.”
“The first couple games, we kind of left (Farese) out to dry,” Vana added. “He’s one of the best goalies in the state when we help him out a little bit.”
Vana additionally made certain to assist Farese win the showdown in opposition to Ritchie, going again to the identical transfer in additional time that he tried on a breakaway on the finish of the primary interval.
“I noticed (Ritchie) was really leaning toward his glove side, so that’s why I went to my backhand on the first one,” he stated. “Great play by (JR Goldstein) to chip it off the glass to set me free (on the second one). I looked and (Ritchie) kind of gave me the blocker side, and I just wanted to stick with what I was comfortable with.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com