Seton Hall Prep ice hockey team tops Bergen Catholic to reach Non-Public semifinals

HACKENSACK, NJ — The sixth-seeded  Seton Hall Prep defeated third-seeded Bergen Catholic, 3-2, in the quarterfinal round of the NJSIAA/ New Jersey Devils Non-Public state tournament at the Ice House in Hackensack on March 2. The last time that the Pirates appeared in the semis was in 2006. Bergen Catholic opened the scoring with a power-play goal with 5:58 left in the first period. Just 1:02 into the second period, Ryan Rodrigues scored his fifth goal of the season on a power-play on assists by Patrick Zincone and Brendan Waivada. Just :28 later, Jack Schneider connected on his sixth goal of the season to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead on assists by Will Robinson and Daniel Sieman.

Seton Hall extended its lead to 3-1 when Brendan Waivada scored a power-play goal, his sixth goal of the season, with 8:50 left in the second period on assists by Rodrigues and Zincone. In the third period, the Crusaders cut the Pirates’ lead to 3-2 with 6:35 left. Seton Hall outshot Bergen Catholic, 33-14.

After the game, a very happy SHP head coach Mike Atkinson said, “We had 20 guys pulling in the same direction tonight. We played a full 60 minutes against a great Bergen Catholic team. Our goalie, Jake Schunke, played fantastic between the pipes and our defense was outstanding.”

It was the Pirates’ first win over Bergen Catholic in four meetings this season.

Seton Hall Prep will play No. 2 seed Don Bosco Prep at Mennen Arena in Morristown on March 5 at 8:30 p.m. in the semifinals.

The other semifinal was No. 1 Christian Brothers Academy against No. 5 Gloucester Catholic on March 4. The final is March 9 at the Prudential Center in Newark.