The Bergen Catholic Crusaders ice hockey team upset the No. 4 Don Bosco Prep Ironmen in overtime by a score of 4-3 on Wednesday afternoon at the Ice House in Hackensack.
In the first period, there wasn’t a lot of action as both teams played cautiously. Bergen Catholic took the first two penalties of the game, but thanks to some saves from their senior goalie Alessandro Capano, was able to kill both Don Bosco power plays off. In the final seconds of the first period, a Bergen Catholic player skated in on a breakaway and drew a holding penalty.
The Crusaders started the second frame off on the man advantage but were unable to convert. Five minutes into the second period, the Crusaders got another chance on the power play and this time they didn’t miss. The Crusaders went in on a 3-on-2 and senior forward Nick Frassetto sent a pass across the face of goal to senior forward Christian Gallagher who tipped the puck past senior goalie, John Gazzola.
Bergen Catholic’s sophomore forward Carter Edmonds would stretch the Crusaders’ lead to two when he scored on the power play with 6:02 left in the period.
With five minutes remaining in the second period, Crusaders’ senior forward Cameron Jaffe took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. 30 seconds later, the Ironmen would capitalize when Brayden Scali slipped a pass in front of Capano from behind the net that ended up trickling past the Crusader goaltender and cutting Don Bosco’s deficit to one.
When Bergen Catholic took another penalty soon after, Don Bosco made them pay again. This time, Ironmen junior forward Niko Pappachristou skated the puck down the middle of the ice to the high slot before ripping a wrist shot over Capano’s glove to tie the game at 2-2, with 2:28 left in the second period.
I thought that they played with a lot of energy, a lot of grit, and determination. There was a possibility that they would’ve gotten down when they got scored against and it was a tie game, but I felt like we played better in the second half of the game. – Bergen Catholic Head Coach Dean Portas
By the start of the third period, the Crusaders were no longer feeling like this would be a repeat of the 3-0 loss they suffered against Don Bosco in the Bergen County tournament. Just 40 seconds into the third period, Edmonds received a pass near the left face-off dot inside the offensive zone where he unleashed a wicked wrister that beat Gazzola over his glove to give the hosts a 3-2 lead. However, with just over two minutes left in the third period, junior defenseman Nick Zayas scored for Don Bosco, tying the game at three. That was enough to send the game into overtime.
In overtime, the teams skated four players aside. The Crusaders had the first scoring chance when freshman forward Milan Kutsevich sent a pass into the low slot for Frassetto whose shot from close range was stopped by Gazzola’s pad. Soon after that, the action heated up when Capano was called upon to make two saves in a row.
With just 1:11 remaining, Don Bosco took a holding penalty. On the ensuing 4-on-3, Don Bosco had the puck inside Bergen Catholic’s defensive zone. A Don Bosco defenseman attempted a shot from the point but whiffed on it, leaving a loose puck at the blue line that was picked up by Edmonds. Edmonds then skated the puck into the neutral zone and passed to Kutsevich. The Crusader freshman went around a defenseman in on a breakaway and deked to his backhand, slipping the puck past a sprawling Gazzola to end the game 4-3 in overtime.
The win gives the Bergen Catholic Crusaders their third in a row after starting the season 0-14-1. It was also Bergen Catholic’s second consecutive victory against top 10 state-ranked opponents after they defeated No. 7 Seton Hall Prep on Monday.
After the game, Coach Portas expressed how impressed he was with his team’s never quit attitude.
We were a team that was 2-14-1 going into this game. I give these kids a lot of credit. They could’ve sat there and done their own thing and they’re buying into what we’re trying to do here with the program and that showed up tonight.
Scoring the overtime winner was a bit of redemption for Kutsevich, who had sat for taking a penalty earlier in the game, as Coach Portas noted.
He responded well. It’s one of those instances where he could’ve gone into a shell and he stepped up and made a big play when his team needed him the most.
Defeating two top 10 ranked opponents is no easy feat after the poor start to the season that Bergen Catholic had and Coach Portas discussed what has changed recently that has helped his team turn things around.
Our game is a game that we’re going to have to play a smart system game and capitalize off of team’s mistakes and breakdowns and the players have really bought into that over the last three games. Even leading into these last three games, our kids played Delbarton tight and then even St. Augustine, we went down there with a short roster and a chance to win it. Didn’t bounce our way, but the kids, their energy, the vibe and the mojo seems like it’s back with our team.
The last game on Bergen Catholic’s schedule is at home against Gloucester Catholic. Coach Portas’ team will be looking to make it four wins in a row against a team that has a 2-7 record this season.
However, if Bergen Catholic’s three-game winning streak proves anything, it’s that anybody can beat anybody on any given day.
We shouldn’t be looking past teams and we should just go out there and try to build on the success that we’ve had this week. Our goal this week was to go into it and say hey, let’s try to win all four games, one game at a time.
