St. Augustine Prep pulled away in the third period Monday to defeat top-seeded Don Bosco Prep 10-6 and win its second straight state non-public ice hockey championship at Prudential Center in Newark. achieved.
The Hermits' right winger Rob Romarino (4 goals), center Ty Simonette (3 goals, 2 assists) and left winger Cameron DeLeo (3 goals) scored all of the team's goals.
Third-seeded St. Augustine finished the season with a record of 15 wins, 5 losses, and 1 draw. Don Bosco, of Ramsey, Bergen County, finished with 24 wins, 3 losses, and 1 draw.
“To be honest, it was a pretty wild game,” St. Augustine's second-year coach Roman Amirato said. “I don't think I expected either team to give up (that many goals), especially given the quality of goaltending on both teams. But it was a great game. Our top line led the way. .Each player scored a hat-trick. It was quite a remarkable game.”
St. Augustine led 6-5 after two periods, with sophomore DeLeo, senior Romarino and junior Simonet scoring the next three goals in that order with less than four minutes left. The score was 9 to 5. Nico Papachristou scored for Don Bosco with 3:02 left, but Romarino scored an empty-net goal with 1:03 left to make it 10-6.
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“It was a pretty remarkable day for that trio,” Amyrat said. “They worked hard and really led the way for us. It was amazing. Something like this may never happen again.”
“When it comes to being an underdog, it doesn’t get any better than last year (when No. 7 seed St. Augustine defeated No. 1 seed Delbarton 3-2 in overtime to win the state title) and That's what we knew on Wednesday.'' (Feb. 28) Winning in the semifinals (4-2 over Delbarton) meant we could play with anyone. We just knew if we could play the way we know how to play and get quality goals and quality goaltending, we could do it.'' Take care of business. ”
St. Augustine won its first state ice hockey championship in 2007.
DeLeo took the lead, but then the Hermits trailed 2-1, 3-2 in the first period. Romarino scored a power play goal with 1:42 left in the period to tie the score at 3-3, and Simonet put St. Augustine ahead for good with 10.4 seconds left.
Goals from Simonet and DeLeo extended the lead to 6-3 in the second period. The Ironmen scored twice in the final two minutes of the period to make it 6-5.
Tommy Brown had two assists for the Hermits, and James Regan, Grayson Esposito and Kalib Capech each added one assist. Goaltender Bobby Kennedy made 18 saves in the win.
Don Bosco's Eric Lin scored three goals. Papachristou added two points and Matt Spungin added one. Massimo Monteleone had three assists. James Tarabochia made 16 saves.
Contact Guy Gargan: 609-272-7210
G Gargan@pressofac.com
