Lancers beat CBA in teams’ first divisional match-up
St. John Vianney ice hockey team is one
of the area’s best
JERRY WOLKOWITZ St. John Vianney’s Mitch Morgan heads up ice with the puck during the Lancers’ 3-1 win over CBA at the American Ice Arena in Wall Township on Wednesday.
The St. John Vianney High School ice hockey team, Holmdel, is off to a 3-1-1 start as it seeks to improve upon last year’s 10-8-3 record.
In the revamped New Jersey Interscholastic Hockey League, the Lancers now compete in the Gordon Conference as well as the Shore Conference’s A Division.
St. John’s is coming off an impressive 3-1 victory over CBA on Wednesday. The Lancers fell behind 1-0, but took the lead on goals by Todd Moitz and John Meyer, the latter coming on the power play. Rob Burner’s third-period insurance goal put the game away.
From the drop of the puck on Wednesday, both Vianney and CBA came out firing, looking to get the early lead. And in the first period, it was CBA getting more quality scoring chances and notching the game’s first goal at the 13:02 mark during a power play of its own.
JERRY WOLKOWITZ St. John Vianney players celebrate after Todd Moitz’s goal tied the score at 1-1 in the Lancers’ win over CBA on Wednesday in Wall Township.
But once the second period got under way, the momentum changed. Vianney began to dominate the action, and it was just a matter of time before it found the net.
At the 13:04 mark, just moments after a Vianney shot hit the crossbar, Moitz’s goal tied the score.
A CBA penalty gave the Lancers a man advantage three minutes later, and Vianney took advantage, with Meyer taking the puck deep into his own end and weaving his way through traffic before blasting the puck past the Colts goalie at the 10:34 mark.
The Lancers continued to dominate the second period, racking up quality scoring chances while the Colts scrambled to keep the puck out of their own end.
A pair of missed breakaway opportunities by St. John’s kept CBA in the game heading into the break, but the Colts were struggling just to keep the aggressive Vianney players from getting quality shots.
Once the third period began, CBA appeared to come out of the locker room fired up, keeping the puck in SJV’s zone for the first few minutes of play. But Vianney goalie Todd Stolarz was strong in the net, keeping the CBA players from tying the score.
Then at the 6:07 mark, Turner got his stick on a loose puck in front of the net and found the net to give Vianney the 3-1 lead. From there, SJV played defensive hockey, effectively keeping CBA from getting itself back in the game.
The win was an important one for the Lancers, especially since CBA is a divisional rival in both the Gordon Conference and the Shore’s A Division. But the two teams will meet again in February in what will be another highly anticipated matchup.
The Lancers have also defeated Brick and Hudson Catholic and forged a tie with Bergen Catholic. Their lone loss came against Malvern Prep.
"This is a very well-balanced team," said Coach Mike Dowd, now in his sixth season at the Lancers’ helm. "We have three solid lines and we don’t have to rely on one or two guys to do most of the scoring."
That’s certainly been true in the early going as Tom Mariano, George Bardis and Moitz are all tied for the team lead with two goals apiece.
With five goals and 12 assists a year ago, Mariano is the Landers top returning scorer followed by junior Mitchell Morgan, who had seven goals and eight assists. The other forwards include Burner, Chris George and Pete Johnson, and sophomores Cory Gross and Dan Scarafile.
Three starters are back on D, led by Hunter Dowd, who contributed three goals and 11 assists last season.
Greg Mazza, a stay-at-home defender, and Meyer return with newcomer Dave Manning, a junior joining the blue line corps.
In goal, junior Stolarz, who was 6-5-3 with 2.59 goals against average and an .870 save percentage, is the starter. Fellow junior Dan Tacopino, 4-3 last season with 3.02 goals against average, will also see his share of action.
"With three good, experienced defensemen and two goalies back, we’re pretty strong in that area," the coach said. "And that plays into our style of play. This is a pretty fast, hard-hitting team that can take advantage of mistakes."
Following a lull in the schedule that saw the Lancers hosting St. Joseph’s, Metuchen, on Thursday and Seton Hall Prep, West Orange, on Dec. 29, St. John’s will compete in the Mayor’s Cup Tournament in Secaucus beginning Jan. 5. In addition to SJV, Brick, Hudson Catholic and Paramus Catholic will represent New Jersey, with the other four teams coming from New York City.