It is said that hockey players have long memories and that’s exactly what St. Francis Prep coach Mike Watts was banking on when he walked into the dressing room at World Ice Arena in Flushing Meadows Corona Park Wednesday afternoon.
“Let’s change what we did last year,” he said. “Let’s keep the intensity going.”
Last year, the Terriers beat rival Holy Cross in the opener of a best-of-three series, but couldn’t put the Knights away in Game 2. Holy Cross would take the next two games and suddenly St. Francis Prep’s season was over.
Sophomore Patrick Schule and freshman Aaron Acosta made sure history didn’t repeat itself as the two forwards led St. Francis Prep to a 9-5 victory against St. Edmund Prep. The Terriers swept the best-of-three CHSHL Class B semifinal series and advance to the championship round where they will meet either Holy Cross or St. Joseph by the Sea.
“If we lost this game they were going to have the momentum and it would have been pretty tough to win the third game,” Acosta said. “We just came out strong and ended up winning.”
Acosta, who has been playing travel hockey since he was 8, set the tone with two goals and an assist in the first period. St. Francis Prep (11-6-1) scored three goals in a 1:12 span late in the first and took a commanding 4-0 lead into the second period.
“That gave us all the momentum and it put them down,” Acosta said. “With that we were able to jump on them and win.”
Travis Lippert and Acosta scored power play goals 22 seconds apart early in the second period to increase the Terriers lead to 6-0 and after C.J. Tortillo put St. Edmund Prep (10-8-0) on the board, Schule scored on a rebound in front of the net to give St. Francis Prep a commanding 7-1 lead.
Schule finished with five goals and three assists and Acosta had three goals and three assists. It’s no wonder the two underclassmen love to play on the same line from time to time.
“I love playing with Schule,” Acosta said. “Me and him can move the puck, we can skate and we just put pucks in the net.”
With a six-goal lead with 1:20 left in the second period, the Terriers took their foot off the gas and the Eagles made them pay, twice getting within three goals in the third.
“I think they got too complacent,” Watts said.
But Schule scored twice, including a breakaway with 10:46 left, to seal the sweep. The Terriers won the opening game, 7-3.
“It’s good that we didn’t play that extra game and now we’re just waiting in the championship to see who we play,” Schule said.
As for the Terriers next opponent, Schule knows exactly who he wants to see there.
“Hopefully we play Holy Cross,” he said. “That would be a nice championship series.”