December 10, 2011

Forward Paul Vella scored a first period goal for St. Peter's Prep in defeat. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

Bergen Catholic at St. Peter's Prep Hockey Photo Gallery

NEWARK – St. Peter's Prep head coach Mike Goodrich didn't view his team's 9-5 defeat as a wakeup call for his players.

It did, however send one clear message to his team which had won its previous two games - it can't expect to win and make the type of mistakes they had on this day at the AmeriHealth Pavillion.

"They're kids and all of a sudden we think we're better than we are," a disappointed Goodrich said. And if you don't come to play, any team in this league can beat you. It's that simple.

"We've been sleeping for five years as a program. If we're not going to wake up after what we've been through. We're past the wakeup call. If we don't start playing the way we're supposed to, we're going to have a lot of games like that."

The Marauders (2-2) were quickly haunted by their mistakes. Less than three minutes into the game a Prep turnover at the blue line was converted into a Scott Mogley goal.

After allowing a second Crusader goal, Prep struck back with a power play goal from senior Dan Perez to cut the deficit to one. But it would be as close as the Marauders would get as Bergen Catholic (1-1) responded with five unanswered goals.

The lowlight coming late in the second period when the Crusaders scored three times in a span of 120 seconds. In that nightmarish span, a Prep defenseman knocked the puck into his own net for a Bergen Catholic goal, which was sandwiched by power play tallies from Brendon McGuire and Mike Ramirez.

"If you give other guys lots of time and space, it's an easy game," Goodrich said. "If you play hard and you don't have time to react, it's a harder game. We made it easy for them and that's something that has to change."

After another Prep turnover resulted in a goal to make it 7-1, the Marauders showed signs of life midway through the period. Sean Crowley, Ryan Norton and Perez all scored in a span of 3:04 to cut the deficit down to 7-4.  Sophomore Rocky Coviello would add a goal as well, but the late surge provided little solace to Goodrich, especially after seeing what they were capable of doing in recent days with convincing wins over Seton Hall Prep and St. Augustine Prep.

"It just tells you what we are as a team," he said. "What if we played the full game as a team? It makes you wonder."

Eight different Crusaders found the back of the net in a well-balanced offensive attack and goalie Gennaro Anzevino made 26 saves for the win.

Nate Leo made 12 saves for the Marauders and Jacob Yanicek had four stops in defeat as Prep looks to bounce back on Monday as they travel to New York to face Portledge.

Junior Vincent Addeo (center) and his Marauder teammates celebrate after a goal. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

Bergen Catholic at St. Peter's Prep Hockey Photo Gallery