By Dylan Butler
It had all the telltale signs of a potential blowout. Having not played in three weeks, the St. Francis Prep hockey team returned to the ice Monday night to face the best team in the CHSHL ‘A’ division.
Having lost just once this season, Iona Prep is one of the deepest and most dangerous teams in the league and, along with Monsignor Farrell, is a heavy favorites to return to the championship series to defend the title it won a year ago.
And yet the Terriers, all 11 skaters and one goaltender, were tied with mighty Iona Prep, 4-4, in the opening moments of the third period before running out of gas en route to a 9-5 loss at New Roc City in New Rochelle.
With the win Iona Prep (14-1) clinches the top seed in the CHSHL ‘A’ playoffs while St. Francis Prep needs to win both of its last two regular season games to make the postseason.
“We did our best to stay in the game, but that’s been our thing all year,” said St. Francis Prep coach William Turner. “We haven’t had enough guys to put on the ice and match the other teams’ lines.”
Although St. Francis Prep (7-7) now needs to beat both Fordham Prep Friday and St. Peter’s Saturday to become one of four playoff bound teams, playing Iona Prep (14-1) close for about 35 minutes after a long layoff was a positive for the Terriers.
“If we play this way against Fordham and (St. Peter’s), they won’t know what hit them,” said St. Francis Prep captain Giancarlo Racanelli said. “We’re definitely clinching (a playoff berth).”
Racanelli and Nick Carpanini, two thirds of the “nine line,” each had two goals and two assists for St. Francis Prep, which rallied from a pair of two-goal deficits to tie the game at 4 on Racanelli’s low shot between the legs of Iona goalie Kasey King eight seconds into the third period.
It was the first shot on net King faced after replacing starter Nick Yarrobino, who let up three goals in the first two periods.
But while they played with grit and determination against a bigger, stronger opponent, St. Francis Prep’s lack of depth finally caught up with them midway through the third period.
Capitalizing on a defensive miscue, Iona forward Jack Cawley raced in on St. Francis Prep goalie Stephan Buccellato (35 saves) and scored the first of his three third-period goals at 10:48 of the third period.
Dave DelSonno, who is third on the CHSHL ‘A’ scoring list, added a power play goal — his fifth goal of the game — less than a minute later and then Cawley scored on a breakaway to finally put the game away for the Gaels, which outshot St. Francis Prep, 44-23, including 20-6 in the third period.
“We were outnumbered and tired at the end,” said junior Charlie Foulds, the lone true St. Francis Prep defenseman. “We played as good as we could with the guys that we have. We made some little mistakes and every mistake we made it seemed that they capitalized on.”
McClancy 3, Salesian 1. Ryan Ferguson had two second period goals and Joe Sadowsky added a third period goal for McClancy (9-1 CHSHL ‘C’) last Thursday at Murray Rink in Yonkers. Jon Bulfamonte scored the lone goal for Salesian (3-5) on the power play.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by email at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
