WEST ORANGE, NJ (updated Tuesday Dec. 5, 10:35 a.m.) – The Seton Hall Prep hockey team had a great week, going 1-0-1 to raise its record to 2-0-1 on the season.
On Tuesday, Nov. 28, the Pirates traveled to Lisa McGraw Rink on the campus of Princeton Day School and defeated them in come-from-behind fashion, 6-3, behind a hat trick by Phil Feinberg. PDS is one of the top prep schools in the northeast in ice hockey.
In the first period, they traded goals as the score was tied 2-2 after the first period. Jack Bachman opened the scoring just 2:29 into the period on an assist by Kevin Bishop.
PDS tied the score at 1-1 before Feinberg gave SHP a 2-1 lead with 8:29 left on an assist by Sal Micciche. PDS tied the score at 2-2. In the second period, PDS scored to make it 3-2 after two periods. In the third period, Feinberg tied the score at 3-3 with 9:54 left on an assist by Thomas Sarni. He then gave SHP a 4-3 lead with 4:17 left on an assist by Micciche. SHP extended the lead to 5-3 when Thomas Colucci scored on assists by Stephen Buck and John O’Hern. Anthony Martine added an empty-net goal on assists by Chris Baumann and Jake Sandomeno to close out the scoring. John Profaci stopped 40 of PDS’s 43 shots and played really strong in goal.
The next night, they traveled to host the No. 2 team in New Jersey, Don Bosco Prep, at the Prudential Center in Newark and played them to a 0-0 tie. Profaci stood tall in goal, denying shot after shot for 35 saves, including 15 in the second period.
After the game, Profaci said, “Our defense played tremendous tonight. We would have been down big if it wasn’t for the defense blocking shots. We are gelling and playing really well this year thus far, moving the puck a lot better than previous years and we are making less mistakes.”
Sandomeno added, “Don Bosco Prep is a really fast team and very skilled. We tried to contain them and I think we did a great job, and John bailed us out a couple of times. Our school is really a special place. We’re a brotherhood here. It’s just a special part of our school.”
Head Coach Mike Atkinson said after the game, “Tonight was a really hard-fought game. I saw two teams that went toe-to-toe, back and forth, and our goalie stood on his head. I’m very excited with where we are right now, but we still have a couple of mountains to get over.
“Our schedule is really competitive as the Gordon Conference has top notch teams and our independent games are also top teams too.”