CBA hockey falls in Non-Public semis
Colts fall to St. Augustine, 6-4
BY DOUG McKENZIE Correspondent
You get the feeling that if the Christian Brothers Academy and St.Augustine ice hockey teams played each other 20 times this season, they'd split the series 10-10.

JEFF GRANIT staff Christian Brothers Academy's Trevor van Riemsdyk (No. 6) controls the puck as Notre Dame's Christian Crawford moves in during an early round NJSIAA Non-Public state championship game. The Colts' playoff run ended Sunday night with a 6-4 loss to St. Augustine.

In fact, the Colts and Hermits did split their season series, 2-2, this winter. Unfortunately for the Colts, St. Augustine's two wins came when there wasmore at stake in the postseason.

After beating CBAjust a couple of weeks back to knock them out of the Gordon Cup semifinals, the Hermits did it to the Colts again on Sunday, beating first-year head coach Ryan Bogan's team, 6-4, in the semifinals of theNJSIAANon-Public Tournament at the Mennen Arena in Morris Township. As the defending champs, theHermits (18-6- 3) willmove on to face top-seeded Delbarton (26-1-1) in the finals this Sunday at the Prudential Center in Newark.

Like the first three contests, this was a well-played game between two very skilled opponents. After being one of the top defensive teams all season, led by one of the state's top goaltenders in Tyler Jackson, CBAfound itself in a shoot-out with an experienced Hermits teamthat returned plenty of talent and firepower from last year's 23-0-0 championship team.

The first two times around, the Colts were the better team; however, once the postseason came along, St. Augustine took its game to another level - one the Colts could not quite match.

CBAtook the lead early on Sundaywhen senior TomMollica scored on a one-timer off a nice feed from Mark Rivera just 2:16 into the game. St. Augustine then came back to tie it up at the 4:52 mark on a power-play goal from Zach Stern off a feed from Ryan Mara.

The score remained tied until the Colts got a power-play goal of their own at the 12:04 mark from Rivera, who deflected a Mike Zuppe shot to beat Hermit goalie Justin Farrell.

CBA then padded its lead just 2:49 into the second period, when junior Kyle McAteer scored off a pass fromseniorNick Spagnole, who won a race to the puck behind the St. Augustine net and set McAteer up perfectly. Up 3-1, theColts seemed to be on their way to the championship game, especially with the way they'd been able to protect leads throughout much of the season.

However, once again St. Augustine responded with a furious offensive display, scoring three goals in the next 8:23 to jump ahead, 4-3.

Stern notched the first goal after beating Jackson to a loose puck at the 5:09 mark to make it 3-2. Mara then added the next two goals, with first coming off a rebound froma Stern shot at the 1:08mark, and the second coming with just 1:28 to play in the second period. The second goal came on a deflection of a Sean Magrann shot that slipped between Jackson's pads.

CBAproved resilient, though, once again tying the score at 4-4 with a Matt Jensen goalwith just four seconds to play in the second period. Jensen's goal came on a power play off a rebound of a Tim Clifton shot. It set up a winner-take-all third period.

For most of the third, the two teams traded few scoring chances, playing an intense period of hockey that thrilled the crowd throughout. However, at the 12:11 mark, the Hermits got what would prove to be the winning goal, when senior Dave Macalino beat Jackson with a wrist shot to put St.Augustine up, 5-4. TheHermits then added an empty net goal from Rob DeSimonewith just 16 seconds left to play for the final margin.

In the end, it was an evenly matched game, with St. Augustine holding a slight edge, 28-24, in shots on goal.While allowing six goals, Jackson did stop 22 shots and was better than the score would indicate.

The difference in this game was the line ofMacalino,Mara and Stern,who combined for five goals and five assists.

After playing most of the season as the team's top-ranked team, thanks in large part to a 17-game unbeaten streak, the Colts (19- 4-2) could not carry their regular-season dominance over to the postseason, going 3-3 over the final weeks of the campaign.

While they likely will dwell on the disappointment of the two recent losses to St.Augustine for a while, in time they will able to reflect on all that they were able to accomplish this season. They won 19 games in the super-competitive Gordon Conference, earned a trip back to the semifinals of the state tournament, and helped develop a seamless transition from longtime head coachMike Reynolds to Bogan.

Though they lose eight seniors to graduation, CBAwill return a number of talented players next year, when they will again look to be one of the elite teams in the state.