MIDDLETON — Jesse Bernardinelli is a soft-spoken young man who lets his play between the pipes do the talking for him.
But the 15-year-old sophomore is well aware what it means to play hockey for St. John’s Prep, particularly when it comes to the annual holiday weekend tournament bearing alumni Pete Frates’ name.
“Having his name on my back is an honor,” said Petruccelli, referring to the special uniforms that the Eagles wore this weekend, all of which had ‘Frates’ above their own jersey numbers. “It’s really bigger than the game … it’s truly meaningful to be able to play for him.”
Bernardinelli made 24 saves and third line senior center Christian Coleman scored the game-winning goal with under six minutes to play in the third period Saturday, giving St. John’s Prep a 3-2 victory over Pope Francis at the Essex Sports Center, and with it the 11th annual Pete Frates Winter Classic championship.
Now 3-0-1, the Eagles had defeated BC High on Friday, 7-0, with senior goalie Nathan Michaud making 18 saves to earn the shutout. Bernardinelli held up his end of the bargain in the Prep’s 1-2 netminding punch on Saturday against the Cardinals, coming up with a number of big stops — including two late in the second period off a one-timer and another scramble out front.
“I felt really good,” said Bernardinelli, who honed his game at a high level during the fall season by backstopping the East Coast Militia Triple-A 15U squad to the Tier 1 state final. “It’s a great feeling to be able to play in front of a ton of people.”
“Jesse was excellent today,” head coach Kristian Hanson said. “He showed great composure. It was a pretty big moment for him in a pressure packed tight game, and he stated composed right to the end.”
The Eagles had previously captured the Frates Classic in 2015 and 2024. In both instances, they went on to capture the Division 1 state championship later that same season.
Coleman’s first goal of the year was a one-timer out front that beat Pope netminder George Ramsey (25 saves). He converted a pass out of the corner from Anthony Petruccelli, who had 2 goals and three points over the weekend and earned the Prep’s Hines Helmet as its player of the game Saturday.
His work along the walls throughout the game was a Petruccelli was put on the ice by the Eagles’ coaching staff in the late stages after Pope John had pulled Ramsey for an extra skater while unsuccessfully trying to knot the game for a third time.
“I haven’t felt like this ever in hockey,” Petruccelli, a senior, on winning the Hines Helmet. “It’s a great honor to get it, especially in this game.
“We have three goals each season: win the Frates Classic, win the Catholic Conference and win the (Division 1) state title,” he added. “It’s good to get the first step done.”
Captain Brandon Ward gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead after one period by ripping a snapshot directly off of a Gavin Anderson faceoff win. Wolfgang Zinger of the Cardinals (now 4-2-1) tied it six minutes into the middle stanza on a top shelf wrister before Prep freshman Blake Ward (Brandon’s younger brother) knocked in a cross-crease pass from Andrew Macaulay five minutes later.
“Blake’s a freshman who’s hard to earn his way into the lineup, but he’s been very aggressive on pucks and shows a lot of offensive ability,” said Hanson. “And Brandon has such tremendous hands and gets the puck off so quickly and shoots it so hard. It’s why he scored 18 goals last year.”
The defending Frates champion Cardinals again squared things up in the third on a power play goal by Wes Asselin at the 9-minute mark before Coleman got the eventual winner two minutes later.
“For an early season test for us, I think the kids played well and did some things we really liked,” said Hanson. “We gave up that tying goal, and to come back and take the lead, then blocking some shots when they had the goalie pulled … we did some good things.”
St. John’s Prep 3, Pope Francis 2
11th annual Pete Frates Winter Classic Championship Game
at Essex Sports Center, Middleton
Pope Francis;0;1;1;2
St. John’s Prep;1;1;1;3
First period: SJP, Brandon Ward (Gavin Anderson), 14:04.
Second period: PF, Wolfgang Zinger (Quinn Woytowicz), 6:08; SJP, Blake Ward (Andrew Macaulay, Logan Daigle), 10:54.
Third period; PF, Wes Asselin (Whitaker Zinger, Liam Dolan), ppg, 9:01; SJP, Christian Coleman (Anthony Petruccelli, Blake Ward), 11:02.
Saves: PF, George Ramsey 25; SJP, Jesse Bernardinelli 24.
Records: SJP, 3-0-1; PF, 4-2-1.