By Larry Moko
A five-goal performance earned Giuliana Scaduto high-fives in the dressing room from her Bishop Tonnos teammates after Wednesday afternoon’s Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic girls’ high school hockey game between the Titans and the St. Jean de Brebeuf Braves.
Thanks largely to Scaduto’s offensive outburst, Tonnos held a six-goal lead heading into the third period and cruised to an 11-3 victory.
So far this season at the high school level, the Grade 12 centre has connected for 12 goals in six games. And the five in one game is the most the four-year veteran has scored as a Titan.
“This season has been going good for the Tonnos team,” Scaduto said. “We’ve really come together.
“And it’s been a great senior year for me.”
Emma Beatty also fired a pair of goals for Tonnos. Singles went to Kajsa van der Meer, Vanessa Tallarico and Tarryn Smith.
Shannen Gilvear, Jayda Guilbeault and Cecilia Silva replied for Brebeuf, which is 0-5-1.
“Overall, for our first game of the new year, we played great hockey,” Tonnos coach Alyssa Berardocco said. “Every one of our players touched the puck on every shift.”
Tonnos, at 2-2-2, is currently tied for third place in the standings with the St. Thomas More Knights. And, under the circumstances, that’s satisfactory.
“We have an incredible roster,” Berardocco said. “The girls are really phenomenal athletes. Unfortunately, we’ve been stricken with illness and injuries in the past couple of months. A lot of our girls have gone down to flu, colds or injuries they sustained in their own league games. So we’ve had to change around the lineup quite a bit.”
A former Tonnos player, Berardocco says Grade 11 centre Clea Hastings and Scaduto have combined to score the majority of the team’s goals thus far.
“A lot of our girls are new to the team so they’re trying to feel things out and get a grip on how we run the program here,” Berardocco said. “It seems like so far they’ve been giving their all on every shift.”
The Titans coach expects most of her players who have been sidelined to return to action next week. “We should be back to normal, so that’s exciting,” she said.
Said Scaduto: “It’s been difficult missing some of our top players. But the girls that have been here have really pulled through.”
The rest of the league was idle Wednesday. That means the St. John Henry Newman Cardinals (4-0-1) and the Bishop Ryan Celtics (4-1-0) continue their holds on first and second place, respectively.