Delbarton beats Christian Brothers Academy in a heavy weight matchup 5-1.
After a dominating win for Christian Brothers Academy over Don Bosco 4-1 and a Delbarton victory 5-4 over St. Joseph on Wednesday the two met at the Prudential Center and battled it out for the Ice Hockey Non-Public State Finals. Both schools came into this matchup with a ton of momentum and on neutral ground, both student sections brought the noise and energy.
CBA junior goaltender Rocco Morenzi came into today’s game fresh off a stellar performance in Wednesday’s game against Don Bosco only letting in 1 goal while facing 28 shots holding off a powerful Bosco offense. On the other side of the ice sophomore Sean O’Gwen put up 4 points (2 goals and 2 assists) and helped push Delbarton through a close bout and onto the finals.
1st Period:
Both teams early on were getting their chances, Morenzi and Delbarton senior goaltender George Cote being tested early. Delbarton’s junior Thomas Keough drew a hooking penalty at the 12:29. While on the powerplay CBA continued to get chances but Delbarton covered the passing lanes and gave Cote easy vision clearing out screens. Delbarton successfully killed off the penalty and began to develop their game plan at even strength early on. While CBA had plenty of control after their powerplay having most of the control time, a bad break would see Delbarton go on an odd man rush and forced Morenzi to make a tough save, sliding across on the two on one.
After the stoppage both teams began pushing and shoving which was expected as tensions were rising in this high stakes game. Delbarton took their second penalty of the game with sophomore Marco Zimovcak getting a tripping call at 5:43. CBA senior Francesco Donohue took a hooking penalty at 5:26 that negated the powerplay and forced 4 on 4 action. Both teams again had their chances but came out unscathed with both teams sitting at 0 with 3:22 left in the period. Delbarton junior Aidan Pasic broke into the zone and beat both defenders headed on a breakaway but just missed the net looking to break the ice and put his name on the statsheet as today’s first goalscorers. The period ended scoreless with shots being 9 a side.
2nd Period:
The second period came out with Delbarton putting heavy pressure on CBA in their offensive zone and used the points to create passing lanes. Delbarton finally got on the board after a 2 on 1 odd man rush with a breakout pass from junior Matteo Conte and a cross crease pass from junior Egor Andreev to senior captain Jack Gerne on a shot that Morenzi had no chance to stop at 12:29. CBA fired back at the 8:58 mark with junior alternate captain Nicholas Desiderio also receiving a backdoor pass in the same fashion as the Delbarton goal.
Not even a minute later at 8:12, O’Gwen scored on a top shelf goal rushing down the left side with the score now sitting at 2-1. A hit on Gerne stopped play and started a small scrum near the boards next to the CBA bench. At the 4:31 mark a loose puck in the crease of the CBA’s crease is picked up and put in by Delbarton senior Dante Rodriguez and extends the lead by 2. In the waning minutes of the 2nd period Delbarton junior Ayden Puppe was called with a tripping call and gave CBA with 2:06 remaining in the period. Delbarton killed the penalty and the period ended with a ton of scoring at 3-1 with Delbarton in the lead.
3rd Period:
At the 13:26 Delbarton’s number 27 Marco Zimovcak took a penalty but put the pressure back on CBA while they killed the penalty off. CBA continued to put on pressure looking to take back the lead. At 4:47 CBA called a timeout to try and take advantage of an offensive zone faceoff. Moments later CBA would take a shot and be covered by Cote with sticks poking at him. A scrum then ensued but with no penalties called on either side. CBA pulled their goalie at the 2:44 mark. At the 1:56 Delbarton’s senior Dante Rodriguez put the nail in the coffin as they scored their 4th goal. Not even a minute later Jack Ross put the 5th goal in for Delbarton, putting the game away and sending the Delbarton fan section into a frenzy. Delbarton cleared the benches charging the crease to embrace Cote as CBA watches on waiting for the most respected ritual in sports, the handshake line.
Captain Jack Gerne is presented with the NJSIAA Non-Public State Championship trophy and embraced by his teammates as the Delbarton Green Wave are cemented in history becoming the 2024-2025 Non-Public State Champions.
