ARLINGTON — At practice before the game and in every period Thursday night, the St. John’s Prep boys hockey team talked plenty about Arlington Catholic’s fight and their Div. 1-leading 15-game unbeaten streak.
The No. 2 Eagles (12-3-2) didn’t deliver their best performance against that grit, but the small details and yet another strong defensive showing powered a 4-2 nonleague win over the No. 9 Cougars at Ed Burns Arena to finally snap their streak.
JR Goldstein scored the first of his two goals on the night in a 2-0 lead the Eagles gained in the opening five minutes, and they kept AC at that distance the rest of the way despite four penalties and a physical charge the Cougars responded with.
“I thought it was a good road win, AC is a strong team,” said SJP head coach Kristian Hanson. “We found ways tonight, doing little things to give ourselves a chance. … Was it our best performance of the year? No. But AC played really hard and that may be more a result of their grittiness and their toughness.”
Shots were limited in the first period as physicality showed up early for both groups, but the Eagles still found a way to put AC in an early hole.
Christian Coleman sent a great cross from the right corner to Anthony Petruccelli charging toward the net, and he deflected it toward the net for a 1-0 lead 2:52 into play. Just 78 seconds later, Goldstein rushed down the right side and got around the edge for a clear shooting lane, which he took advantage of to make it 2-0.
“We knew they were a good team, we knew they were a gritty team and they were going to push back,” Goldstein said. “So we just had to keep pushing and not let up. Our goal was to just keep it going, put more pucks in the net, and ultimately take them out of the game.”
Hanson was pleased with the start, but more importantly, happy with SJP continuing to play hard.
The Cougars settled down quickly from the second goal to keep activity off of goalie Stephen Camara (26 saves) while applying pressure on the attack. Goldstein and the rest of the blue line didn’t necessarily go out of its way to be physical, but used its size and speed to its advantage when physicality was brought to them.
Kevin Correa, Sefton Paradis and Brennan Waters were disruptive in the defensive zone, blowing up rushes and cutting off skating lanes. AC’s dangerous top two lines brought a lot of energy and speed, but SJP limited it to 23 shots on net and shut the Cougars out in 5-on-5 play.
“We ran four D today so it was kind of a grind, but we’ve got some good defensemen,” Goldstein said. “And the ones who didn’t get as much time were there keeping the energy up on the bench and supporting, so that’s a huge help. We just played simple, smart hockey and got pucks out.”
“I thought (Goldstein) was excellent … (Correa) was a physical presence all night,” Hanson added. “A lot of the battles in the corner our guys did a good job of winning.”
The Eagles extended the lead midway through the second period on Paradis’ goal coming off a rebound. But they also committed three of their four penalties in the same period, which the Cougars finally cashed in on with Brayden Boczenowski’s shot from the right point deflected off a body into the net at the tail end of the power play.
Momentum swung in AC’s favor entering the last period, but an early penalty set up Goldstein for a power play goal to extend the lead SJP lead to 4-1.
“It’s such a game of momentum,” Hanson said. “When you score twice in the first five minutes, the danger is it becomes, ‘Alright, this isn’t going to be hard.’ We found out tonight it was going to be hard and really had to compete until the end to win.”
Cael Colarullo scored a goal off a rebound on a power play with 2:20 left in a last-ditch comeback effort, but that’s all goalie Jesse Bernardinelli (21 saves) allowed.
“(He’s) very solid,” Hanson said. “He’s calm, composed. He does a great job of seeing the puck through traffic, and when we needed big saves tonight he came up with them.”
With the win, SJP has taken eight straight and heads into the final stage of the regular season as one of the state’s hottest teams.
“We just got to keep doing what we’re doing, we’ve got to be confident in ourselves every single day,” Goldstein said. “We’ve got to keep the energy up in practice and stay confident, and not be cocky.”
