The Prep’s Captains Propel SJP to 9 Straight Wins
By: Braeden Cheverie, Alex Grondin, and Jason Stellakis
St. John’s hockey hosted the Andover Golden Warriors on Monday January 24th. From puck drop the Eagles dominated and scored 3 goals in the first period. Ben McGilvray opened up the scoring on a pass from Jimmy Ayers. Not too long after Will Van Sicklin followed up and doubled their lead, as he squeaked the puck past the Andover goalie with little room to score. To wrap up the period and make matters worse for the Warriors, Eagles Captain Pierce Blaeser would score a beautiful shorthanded breakaway goal as he skated around the defenseman and went backhand forehand and delivered the puck in the back of the net. Heading into the second the Golden Warriors had a lot to do but, similar to the Catholic Memorial Knights, it was just a bad day at the office for them. They were falling over, missing the net, and turning the puck over. Once again an Eagles captain would compound their problems as Tommy Sarni would light the lamp which forced a goalie change for the Warriors. Heading into the third the Eagles were able to let Freshman Goalie Luke Quinn (who is from Andover) play. Quinn made 6 saves and helped the Eagles complete the shutout. However, just before the final horn sounded, the first line would combine as Pierce Blaeser was assisted by brother Cole and Tommy Sarni.
After the game Alex got the opportunity to speak with one of the captains Pierce Blaeser. Alex asked him as an athlete if he ever thinks about the rankings at all, and Pierce said, “As of the good record we have, first place, you really just want to flush every game down the toilet, as [Jake] Vana says flush it, and a treat every game like a new game.” No matter the opponent it seems like the Eagles play with the same heart and the same energy and they play together. Speaking of playing together, Alex recognized a word that is mentioned a lot in the locker room and whenever they come off the ice: family. He asked Pierce what that means to the team. Pierce said, “Every single kid on this team, whether I’ve been with them for 4 years, 6 years, 1 year, or my whole life with my brother and Jake, we're family and I treat everyone like a brother.” Pierce added, “If you are doing it like it’s your brother, you would do anything for them.” As someone who gets the opportunity to be closer to the players, Alex really thinks that the idea of family is more than just a word. He believes the aspect of family is a huge reason as to why they can possibly find themselves on a deep stretch in the postseason. He recognizes that there are other teams around the league who play together, but Alex witnesses these guys on a weekly basis, and knows they love each other, and they like to win together. In terms of Wednesday’s game at home versus Xaverian, Pierce told Alex, “This is their Stanley Cup.” Pierce knows they will be coming with revenge in their eyes and that in order to beat them for a second time, they must do what they are good at, as well as be on their A game. Alex also spoke with the younger brother of Pierce, Cole Blaeser and he asked him how a team of their size is able to use their body so well. Cole told Alex, “We use our speed to catch up to them, and once we are on them, we take the puck and use our body to push them away.” If you watch Eagles hockey you can tell that their main identity is their speed, and this is exactly what Assistant Coach Hennessey said after the game. Alex recognized the Eagles ability to adapt to different play styles, and asked Coach if that is something they emphasize. Coach mentioned that speed is the best attribute but in some games they can mix it up if needed.
After the game, Jason had the opportunity to interview Will Van Sicklin. Jason acknowledged the Prep’s success, and he asked Will how they look to maintain this form because it is such a crucial aspect of the game. “We can't be satisfied with anything,” Will stated. “We have to keep working hard and hope everything falls into place.” Jason also brought up the fact that the Prep plays Xaverian two days from now. In their first meeting, it was a back and forth affair, but the Prep ended up victorious, 5-2. While some factors of this team are great, others can be improved upon. Jason asked Will how they can improve for their next game. “We just got to keep working, and we got to be ready,” Will stated. “We know Xaverian is the best team we played.”
Braeden spoke with the victorious eagles on two occasions. The first was about two hours before puck drop, and then directly after the 5-1 win. The pregame question was about the quick turnaround, only having a Sunday off day before their next challenge. #7 in the navy blue and white, Pierce Blaeser, said that, “The mentality is to go hard and play for the man next to you. We make sure that we come prepared to every game. It could be the best team in the country or someone we destroyed earlier that year, we come in with the same mentality.”. One of my favorite quotes I’ve collected in any interview came from Theo Vetere, a Captain for the Prep on the defensive side of the ice. Theo said, “Every game is the most important game. Regardless of rankings, we will show up and go as hard as possible. We know if we are on our “A” game we can beat any team, and if we aren't, any team can beat us.”.
In response to their inconsistent opponent of Andover High School, who entered the game 5-5 on the season, Pierce said, “We are always prepared for the best team possible and are ready to play against whatever players Andover throws in the yellow sweaters for today's game.” However, one thing he was confident in was the, “Great depth on our team. When you can combine that with speed, we can use this to our advantage against teams such as Andover that might be tired once the third period rolls around.”. What the eldest of the Blaeser brothers said was exactly what happened, as Andover showed some life in the second period but was nowhere to be seen in the third. The people who were seen? Freshman Goaltender Luke Quinn and the rest of the eagles youngsters. Speaking of youngsters, the youngest player on the Eagles with the name Blaeser, Cole, already has a veteran mentality that, “One thing we want to build on is coming into every game as if it’s our last. We have to make sure we don’t take anyone lightly and create bad habits.”.
An incredibly interesting aspect of High School Hockey is, well, the High School part of it. These are Student Athletes and that comes with many variables. The Andover game began just one hour after day 1 of the second semester for SJP. I was interested to see what the thoughts on school followed by a game were for the #1 team in the division. My answers were mixed. The seniors said they weren’t fans. Pierce said, “I enjoy weekend games more. This is because your peak performance comes six hours after you wake up. This allows me to prepare when I wake up in accordance to game time. I also like to prep my meals and stretches throughout the day which is hard with school. But being a student athlete you control only what you can control and must be able to adapt depending on the situation.”. Both Senior captains ended their thoughts with nutrition. Hydration was a key for both of them as well as knowing when to eat and when to not to maintain the highest level of performance possible on the ice. Cole focused more on the atmosphere and mental aspect of the game, “It helps to be in school all day. It’s nice to see all of the boys all day before the game. For me it gets me mentally prepared to be with the team all day in a different way.”. So that’s where we parted ways. Alex, Jason, and I took to the stands as the likes of the Blaeser’s and Vetere took the ice.
After the convincing 5-0 win, Braeden revisited Pierce and Cole and added key players Ben McGivalray and Luke Quinn. Cole has been on an interesting streak, a blocked shot in each home game this season, an impressive feat as a forward. Cole said his motivation was, “To win. If I'm not scoring out there, I may as well be blocking shots and taking away goals from the other team”. Cole wasn't the only one keeping the puck out of the net as the third period was the time for the man with the custom SJP mask to take on his hometown team. Luke Quinn was cool, calm, and collected with the simple response of, “It felt really good,” to go out and shut out his friends in the blue and gold sweaters. Another guy feeling really good is Ben McGilvray who is on a goal tear at home this season, especially the past couple games, Ben said, “The first few games of the season, I was playing a little passive. I was more pass first. I’ve been talking with coaches and players and they’ve all encouraged me to shoot the puck more and I think that’s the big difference really.”. And in response to the young goaltender he had playing behind him in the third, he was all smiles, “It’s good to see a freshman goalie get a period against his hometown, I know he felt really pumped to get in there, get some ice, he’s a young kid and he’s gonna be great for us in the next couple years to come.”. So clearly post game the eagles were happy with the win but know they have the #1 spot to defend. Defensive Coach Mr. Hennessy was the perfect coach to chat with after the shutout today, he said that, “It’s really important that you get a shutout in a game like this. Clearly we dominated the game but you can easily get sloppy in a game like that and get some bad habits in the D-Zone, so for the guys to stay focused on the D-Zone coverage that we worked on, (the shutout) is a good reward for them.” Closing out, Coach Hennessy made it clear that the team's identity is “We are a fast team, that’s one of our biggest strengths so we usually want to play fast but sometimes it's not going to happen. Depending on what the other team does, you have to be willing to adjust. You can get undisciplined if you try to force speed into the game at all times, so adjust to what's going to work.”.
In full, a 5-0 win for the eagles of St. John’s Prep was the perfect way to end a Monday. The article authors got to share in a little piece of what Luke Quinn felt, beating the team they grew up wanting to be. The Eagles go again Wednesday, the 26th of January against rivals, The Xaverian Hawks.
On behalf of Alex Grondin, Braeden Cheverie, and Jason Stellakis, thank you for reading this article, for us it was the most exciting one to write, because we are all from Andover Massachusetts. Though we wish the Golden Warriors the best of luck in future we are still and will always be Eagles.