St. Mary and Newman Advance to Final
By Larry Moko
There will be a first-time champion in the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic junior high school hockey league this season.
Semifinal games at LIUNA 4 Ice Centre on Monday saw the St. Mary Crusaders down the Bishop Tonnos Titans, 4-1, and the St. John Henry Newman Cardinals edge the Bishop Ryan Celtics, 4-2.
The league is in its fifth year of existence. Previous winners have included Tonnos, the St. Thomas More Knights and the two-time defending-champions from Bishop Ryan.
St. Mary finished on top of the regular-season standings and is currently unbeaten in its six starts.
"It was an overall good game for our team," said Crusaders centre and captain Lucas Wellenreiter, who also plays for the Don Mills Flyers U16 AAA club. "We had to battle through adversity when we took some silly penalties."
Although St. Mary carried a 3-0 lead into the third period on goals by B. Rodrigues, Thomas Garner and Hudson Sookdeo, Tonnos threatened in the late stages. A power-play goal by Matteo Mozetic cut the margin to two and then, with three minutes remaining, the Titans enjoyed a two-man advantage for much of that time.
An empty-net goal by James Kostendoff of St. Mary with 38 seconds remaining, however, capped the scoring.
"It made it a little more tense at the end of the game," St. Mary coach Jason Kokoski said. "Our goaltender, Ryan Slama, came through for us and we were able to secure the win."
Kokoski said both Ryans -- goaltenders Slama and Johnston -- have been excellent in sharing duties between the pipes for St. Mary this season.
Said Kokoski: "We've played really well defensively as a group. We're not very flashy as a team but we try to take care of the middle of the ice and our end. Just the basic stuff.
"The guys are really unselfish. Every game we have someone new chipping in with a goal."
St. Mary's third goal was a shorthanded effort by Sookdeo who sped up the middle past two defenders to go in alone.
In the other semifinal, Jaxson Black's third goal of the game proved to be the winner for the second-place Cardinals.
The score was 1-1 after the first period and 2-2 heading into the third.
Owen Galvin's long shot slid into the empty net for Newman's final goal.
"Jaxson Black scored a hat trick," Cardinals coach Matt Pritchard said. "Without him and Michael Matakovic in net, I don't think we would have won this game.
"To be honest I think BR was the better team for the majority of the game. Our goalie played great and bailed us out on a few of the power plays they had."
Kristian Perusin and Alex Marica scored for third-place Bishop Ryan.
"It was a really good game," Celtics coach Justin Cannon said. "I think our guys controlled the play for most of it. We outshot them and had more zone time.
"A couple of their goals were just opportunistic bounces."
The Celtics appeared to tie the game with about four minutes left, but it didn't count because the net was off.
"That was a deflating moment," Cannon said.
The Newman coach said Black, captain Galvin and rotating wingers have provided much of the scoring punch for the Cardinals this season.
"Our top line carries a lot of weight for us," Pritchard said, adding that defencemen Ryder Drennan and Adriano Fiore are playing a lot of minutes and coming up big, too.
"Jaxson is a hard worker and plays at both ends of the ice," Pritchard added. "Best of all he loves the game of hockey. That's what you like to see as a coach."
In their regular-season meeting, St. Mary defeated Newman, 4-0. The final will be held April 30 at LIUNA 4 Ice Centre.
Photos by R.F. (Bob) Butrym, RFB Sport Photography and Richard Andoga
More photos on HWCDSB Athletics Facebook page
