St. Johns Wins 2nd Annual High School Hockey Classic, 7-3.
January 31, 2009
St. Peter-Marian Guardians vs. St. John’s Pioneers
DCU Center – Worcester, MA
January 31, 2009
St. John’s Wins 2nd Annual High School Hockey Classic, 7-3.
Worcester- The DCU Center hosted the 2nd Annual High School Hockey Classic presented by Commerce Bank Saturday afternoon. The Classic showcased two Central Massachusetts high school hockey powerhouses, the St. Peter-Marian Guardians and the St. John’s Pioneers. The schools squared off before a crowd of their friends, families, and classmates in a game that each team’s head coach considered a must win. After an explosive start from the Guardians, who posted two quick goals early in the first period and got an impressive three goal performance from freshman forward Garret Heihr, it was St. John’s who would emerge victorious 7-3.
St. Peter-Marian started the scoring at 1:06 of the first period with a goal from Heihr. Assisting on the goal was senior Matt Lopes and sophomore Cameron Hanify. Just minutes later St. Peter-Marian’s Michael Lopes walked right in on the St. John’s goaltender, leading to another goal from Heihr, who cleaned up the rebound at 3:07, giving the Guardians a quick 2-0 advantage.
The Guardian lead was quickly cut in half as St. John’s junior Matt Kelly flipped one over the sprawling netminder Tyler Forss at 5:07. St. John’s continued the pressure and struck again with another goal from Michael Coulombe, assisted by Ryan O’Toole, at 5:57, to tie the score at two goals apiece.
At 10:16 in the first period the Pioneers lit up the scoreboard again as Tom Krysil put one in from in front of the net. The goal was assisted by Wes Bouges and Coulombe, giving St. John’s their first lead of the game as the period ended with a 3-2 score.
After a physical start to the second period, Krysil scored his second goal of the game at 3:43 to extend the St. John’s lead to 4-2. The goal was assisted by junior Connor Gorman and senior Will O’Connor. Minutes later, after chasing down a puck deep into the St. Peter-Marian zone, Gorman fed sophomore Keith Kelly in front of the net for a score at 6:14.
St. Peter-Marian’s Heihr would score his 3rd goal of the game at 13:28, leaving the Guardians down 5-3 at the end of two periods.
The Guardians started off the final period on the power play but were unable to take advantage of the extra skater. The game remained physical but scoreless through most of the third, before St. Peter-Marian pulled their goaltender with over two minutes left in the game. Gorman scored a pair of empty net goals at 12:59 and 13:29, finalizing the Pioneers’ 7-3 victory.
St. John’s record improves to (7-5-2) as they won their second consecutive High School Hockey Classic presented by Commerce Bank. St. Peter Marian drops to a record of (4-10-1).
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