St. Anthony’s Friars took on their archrivals the Chaminade Flyers in the CHSHL Championship. The Friars defeated the Flyers 5-4 in OT and 8-4 on 2/15 and 2/17, respectively. The Friars and Flyers have faced off in the last six championship finals with the Friars winning five out of six, sweeping the last three. This highly anticipated rematch did not disappoint, as the series was full of action and exciting comeback wins.
The Friar notables for the series were #21 Matt Coronato totaling 9 points with 5 goals and 4 assists, #43 Nick Cozzi with 5 points; 3 goals and 2 assists, #17 Matt Tullo with 4 points; 3 goals and 1 assist, and #5 Connor Szambel with 3 points; 1 goal and 2 assists.
Game one was played at the Dix Hills Rink with the Friars playing in front of a large home crowd wearing black and gold. The Friars wanted to get off to a fast start by the scoring the first goal but the Flyers had other thoughts as they opened the scoring at the three-minute mark of the first period. The Friars however would answer back with goal from #21 Matt Coronato at 10:19 tying the game. The Friars dominated the play in the first period and outshot the Flyers 15-3 but the game remained knotted at 1-1. The Flyers scored to open up the second period but a costly penalty gave the Friars a power play and #21 Matt Coronato scored tying the game. After a lot of back and forth action the Flyers took the lead again. Coach Lund decided to shake things up and switched goalies as #29 Matt Walsh came in to relieve #37 Silvio Losardo. The second period came to a close with the Flyers leading 3-2, although they were being dominated and outshot 25-9.
The Friars having been in this situation before, were ready for the battle ahead in the third period. There preparation showed as less than 2 minutes into the third the Friars had tied the game up as #21 Matt Coronato scored his third of the game for a hat-trick. The Flyers regained the lead with a little over five minutes remaining in the game and appeared on their way to stealing game one on the road. The Friars continued to pressure and with less than two minutes remaining #17 Matt Tullo rang it off the post and tied the game putting the Flyers in shock as they all but thought the victory was theirs. The crowd went wild as the final seconds ticked off sending the game into overtime.
The overtime period was tense as the Flyers had numerous scoring chances but #29 Matt Walsh stayed strong. He made an incredible save on a breakaway that would have ended the game and wound up getting injured on the play and had to be carried off the ice. #37 Silvio Losardo replaced him to try to help win the game for the Friars. The Flyers continued to put on pressure and with their defense pinching the Friars reacted aggressively with a breakout pass from their own zone as #21 Matt Coronato picked the puck and passed it to #5 Connor Szambel who fired it down the ice to find the stick of #43 Nick Cozzi. All alone on a breakaway and one shot later the puck was in the back of the net and the Friars were up 1-0 in the series.
After a huge game one win the Friars looked to capitalize on the momentum and close out the series. Their game plan was to put the pressure on and strike first but just like game one the Flyers scored the first goal at the 4-minute mark of the first period and took the early lead. In what appeared to be a game one replay, the Flyers took a costly penalty and the Friars made them pay as #5 Connor Szambel fired a shot from the point and it blew past the Flyers goalie tying the game at 1-1. Less than two minutes later the Flyers scored taking a 2-1 lead. The Friars would eventually tie the game up with a goal from #17 Matt Tullo at the ten-minute mark, and took the lead with a beautiful goal from #43 Nick Cozzi with less than a minute in the period giving the Friars a 3-2 lead after the first.
The Flyers scored five-minutes into the second and it looked the momentum was about to shift as the Friars took a penalty but #21 Matt Coronato scored a short handed goal to give the Friars the lead back at 4-3. On that same power play the Flyers scored and it was back to a stalemate as the second period came to a close with the game tied 4-4. Whatever Coach Lund said between periods must have worked as the Friars offense exploded. It started right away, as #17 Matt Tullo and #21 Matt Coronato scored putting the Friars up 6-4. The Flyers sensing the game was about to slip away started to unravel and began to lose composure. The game became physical and the Friars did not back down as they continued to play their game and pressure the Flyers defense and goalie. The Friars would later add two more goals by #43 Nick Cozzi and #14 Marc Gonzalez putting the game and the series away. The final score was 8-4 and the Friars were champions yet again.
Coronato and Cozzi were interviewed after the game with both crediting their success to playing with such great linemates. They also agreed that their favorite moments of the season was watching the clock tick down and hearing the buzzer sound as they were able to celebrate the championship with the boys.
The Friars finished the season with an incredible 15-0-1 record. Their top line of Tullo, Coronato and Cozzi was everything a top line needed to be totaling 109 points. Matt Tullo finished with 41 points; 21 goals and 20 assists, Matt Coronato finished with 38 points; 20 goals and 18 assists and Nick Cozzi finished with 30 points; 16 goals and 14 assists.
After the game, Coach Lund said “The boys should enjoy tonight but their work is not over yet as they have to prepare for States.” The Friars play in States on March 3rd in Brooklyn.
About The Author:
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Alex Rocco Alex Rocco is a sophomore at St. Anthony’s High School, writing for his second year with Friar Scoreboard. He hopes to have a career in Sports Management one day. He is also a member of Friar Faithful, PBJ Club and Special Needs Ministry. |
