HAVERFORD TOWNSHIP —All the pieces fit together for St. Joseph’s Prep Friday night.
Joe Samango scored three goals and assisted on three others and Jeffrey Hammond added two goals and two assists as the Hawks, with the heart of their roster on hand, celebrated Senior Night with a 7-1 win over The Hun School 7-1 in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference game at the Skatium.
HAVERFORD TOWNSHIP —All the pieces fit together for St. Joseph’s Prep Friday night.
Joe Samango scored three goals and assisted on three others and Jeffrey Hammond added two goals and two assists as the Hawks, with the heart of their roster on hand, celebrated Senior Night with a 7-1 win over The Hun School 7-1 in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference game at the Skatium.
The win assured St. Joseph’s Prep (14-4-2 overall, 3-3-1-0 in the APAC) of a third-place finish in the conference regular-season standings; the Hawks will conclude conference play against Malvern Prep on Thursday.
The Raiders to 8-12 overall and 2-5 in the APAC.
It was a night when the Hawks had their big guns on hand. That hasn’t always happened this season; there have been multiple occasions on which they were shorthanded because of key players being away on club duty.
After witnessing his team’s effort Friday night, it was impossible for Coach David Giacomin not to speculate on what they might have achieved, and might accomplish going forward.
“I know we’re a really good team when we have everybody here and healthy,” he said.
The Hawks were shorthanded when they absorbed a 7-0 loss to the Raiders on December 7 and Giacomin said that result motivated his team Friday night.
“This was basically all the seniors having that will and desire,” he said. “They didn’t want to lose on Senior Night. That’s what it came down to.
Goals from Samango and Shane O’Neill, sandwiched around a goal from Hun School’s Brendan Marino, gave the hosts a 2-1 lead after one period before they broke the game open with four goals in the second frame, two from Hammond and one each from Samango and Tristan Winata, the Hawks’ number-one line.
Samango completed his hat trick in the third period. The trio accounted for 14 points.
“When we play together as one unit, we score a lot of goals,” Hammond said. “But when we don’t, we break apart.
“Games where we find each other and play s one unit we (do well).
The Raiders outshot the Hawks 31-29 but only Marino could solve Rocco Bruno in the Hawk net. The visitors’ frustrations boiled over on occasion; they were whistled for nine of the game’s 14 penalties.
“Obviously (St. Joseph’s Prep) they flipped the script here today,” said Hun School coach Ian McNally. “That’s kind of been the storyline for two weeks now. “It’s like, we’re trying really hard, we outshoot them, but we basically have very few actual scoring chances. And, every five minutes we let a team rush to the other end and score.”
Hun School 1 0 0—1
St. Joseph’s Prep 2 4 1—7
First-period goals: Joe Samango (SJP) from Patrick Sweeney and Shane O’Neill, 1;53; Brendan Marino (HS) from Justin LaPlante, 11:24; O’Neill (SJP) from Jeffrey Hammond and Samango, 14:04 (pp)
Second-period goals: Hammond (SJP) from Tristan Winata and Samango: 23; Samango (SJP) 5:33 (pp) Winata (SJP) from Hammond, 7:46; Hammond (SJP) from Samango, 14:21;
Third-period goal: Samango (SJP) from Winata and Hammond, 14:33
Shots: Hun School 31, St. Joseph’s Prep 29; Saves: Julian Arsenault (HS) 22; Rocco Bruno (SJP) 30