WEST ORANGE, NJ – The Seton Hall Prep ice hockey team completed its run in the Pepsi Classic at the Ice Vault in Wayne with a 4-0 record to improve to 8-3 on the season.
On Thursday, Dec. 27, the Pirates defeated Randolph, 2-1. Freshman goalie Jake Schunke stopped 25 shots in the victory. SHP opened the scoring when Phil Feinberg took a pass from Thomas Colucci in the slot and scored just 4:07 into the match. Randolph tied the score at 1-1 later in the period. The score remained the same until Ryan Rodrigues buried a rebound of a Timothy O’Connell shot just 2:13 into the third period.
The next night, the Pirates defeated Summit, 4-2, as sophomore goalie Patrick Ackerman won his first varsity start, stopping 21 shots. Tyler Fogu scored a power-play goal with 10:12 left in the first period to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead on an assist by Ryan Kemp. They extended their lead to 2-0 when Kemp scored off of a feed by Feinberg with :07.7 left in the second period. They added two goals in the third period to increase their lead to 4-0. Harrison Rocheville scored an unassisted goal. Then just :40 later, Feinberg scored on assists by Rocheville and Kemp. Summit scored two goals in the final two minutes of the match.
On Sunday, Dec. 30, the Pirates defeated St. Joseph’s (Metuchen), 6-1. After a scoreless first period, Feinberg scored a power-play goal just :49 into the second period to give Seton Hall a 1-0 lead on assists by Thomas Colucci and Kemp. After St. Joseph’s tied the match at 1-1, Alex Kuhtik scored an unassisted goal just :46 later to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead. In the third period, Seton Hall scored four goals. Colucci scored two unassisted goals, Brendan Waivada scored off an assist by Kuhtik and Christopher Kelly scored on an assist by James Gabriel.
After the final match, SHP head coach Mike Atkinson said, “Our goalies and defense played very well and our offense got the job done when it needed to. To win four games in seven days is something is not easy but is something to be very proud of.”