DANVERS — What could’ve been a disastrous two-men down penalty whistled against the St. John’s Prep hockey team Friday turned out to be, in retrospect, probably the best thing that could’ve happened to them.
Forced to kill that 5-on-3 disadvantage early on, the Eagles got six saves from goalie Nathan Michaud during that 120-second span. Given a jolt of adrenaline from their success, the Eagles went on to score three times on their first five shots on goal and lit the lamp five times in the second period to roll to a surprising 7-0 victory over BC High in the first round of the Pete Frates Winter Classic.
The 11th annual tournament, played in honor of former Eagles’ captain and ALS warrior Pete Frates of Beverly, is arguably the state’s best holiday tournament year in and year out.
Per usual, St. John’s Prep wore specially designed uniforms for the game — this year’s are white with North Carolina blue, the school’s emblem on the front and ‘Frates’ on the back of each — and Pete’s father, John, and younger brother, Andrew, gave the team their annual pregame speech in the locker room.
“Those are the special ones to me, the (players) hearing that story for the first time,” veteran head coach Kristian Hanson said of the pregame speech delivered by the Frates men. “You could see how emotional Mr. Frates was today, especially when Kenny (Aldrich, the Prep’s student announcer) read the pregame address. It was good for our kids to see that; it’s not just about a hockey game.
“It puts things in perspective that Pete was a real person. We do the same thing when Mr. (Steve) Hines (father of the late Prep captain 1st Sgt. Derek Hines) comes in. This isn’t just a umber we hang over there or a face we put up on the wall, but this is someone’s son, someone’s brother, and a real person just like you sitting in these stalls. It makes it that much more personal.”
On the ice, St. John’s Prep (now 2-0-1) had two seniors score their first varsity goals in the contest: right wing Owen Hanson, whose clean shot beat the BC keeper a little over two minutes into the middle period, making it 4-0; and left wing Anthony Petruccelli, who singed the twine twice, both by going hard to the net and following up a rebound.
Michaud, a senior, made 18 saves for his first shutout of the season; junior Marco Ferraresso played the final three-plus minutes and stopped two pucks in his varsity debut.
Hanson said that second line senior center Logan Daigle, who got the team’s Hines Helmet for exceptional play Friday, and his wingers Andrew Macaulay and Luke Horenstein (goal) have played well all season. The third line, with another senior, Christian Coleman, centering Tim McColgan and Petruccelli, also had a strong game, as did the fourth unit, with Ryan Finkle, freshman center Blake Ward and the younger Hanson shining.
“I can’t deny it as a parent or a coach,” Hanson said of the emotion of watching his son notch his first varsity goal. “Owen’s been coming to the Frates Tournament since he was a little kid. It’s special, and scoring against BC High is something he’ll always remember.”
Captains Brandon Ward and J.R. Goldstein staked St. John’s Prep to a 2-0 lead after one period despite the hosts managing just four shots in the period. Horenstein’s tally just 84 seconds into the second period chased BC High (now 1-2) senior goalie Domenic Conte; Hanson, two from Petruccelli, and a shorthanded breakaway snipe from first line left wing Chase Brown completed the scoring, with running time used in the third period.
“We benefitted from some good bounces today, and things just went our way,” said Hanson. “That doesn’t always happen. They put us on our heels the first half of the first period; nobody on our bench expected it to be a 7-0 game.”