Eagles Depth Proves to be the Deciding Factor in 4-1 Win

        

    By: Jason Stellakis and Alex Grondin

St. John’s hockey (ranked #5) traveled to the Breakaway Ice Center to face the Austin Prep Cougars (ranked #8) in a heavily anticipated matchup. Both teams came into this game undefeated in the regular season and were hungry for the next win. The Eagles jumped in front early thanks to a Will Van Sicklin goal, and if it was not for the post he would have had a second goal, just missing the net 30 seconds left in the first period. However, he did not credit this win to himself, but the whole team: “It wasn’t one of us who got it done,” said Van Sicklin, “It was all of us.” Van Sicklin mentioned the team has worked very hard in practice to get to where they are right now. This was a highly anticipated game that a lot of people were going to have their eyes on. It also seems like the confidence level was high coming into the night. “We knew they were going to be one of the strongest teams yet,” Van Sicklin stated. “We just had to go out there and show it to them.”

As it has been this year, the first period has been the Eagles’ best, in fact they have not played a first period without at least a goal in all their games, along with scoring the first goal in other games this year. “Coach emphasized before every game that we need to bring the energy early and intensity often, so during practice we try to keep the energy in a fast paced practice as high as possible,” right wing Jake Vana said. In the second period the Prep would score another thanks to Vana lifting the stick of the Cougar defender and shooting it high blocker side of the AP goalie to make the score St. John’s two, and Austin Prep zero. 

The Cougars would get one back but the Eagles stopped their rally when Jimmy Ayers scored on the power play before the period ended. Heading into the third period, and despite being down two goals, the Cougars never gave up and outshot the Eagles 8-3. However even with all their effort they could not get one past senior goalie Payton Pallidino. Ben McGilvray would put the icing on the cake with an empty netter that ended the game 4-1. 

        The Eagles first line made their presence through their physicality and speed, however it was the depth of the team that got the majority of points. I (Alex) remember speaking to Senior captain and first-liner Tommy Sarni after the first game of the season. One thing he talked about was the electric second line and how they can produce just as much if not more than the first line. He emphasized that on the first line’s off days, the second line can shine. One thing that you will notice if you watch St. John’s hockey is that they are a very feisty team. Unfortunately this leads to them ending up in the box more often. “We have to be a little bit more disciplined when things are going our way, I think for sure, but it’s just when things aren't going away we get frustrated and we try to do too much,” Vana stated. 

        The Eagles next game is against Xaverian Brothers high school at the Canton Ice House in Canton, Massachusetts. Intensity and physicality will for sure be at a peak because of the fact this is a rivalry game, and that the hockey team might be seeking revenge due to the football team's loss at Xaverian on Thanksgiving Day.


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