St. John’s Prep boys hockey defeated the defending champion Pope Francis 3-2 on Saturday evening to win the Peter Frates Winter Classic for the third time.
The Eagles struck first 14 minutes into the period after Brandon Ward scored off a face-off from Gavin Anderson.
The Cardinals evened up the score at one apiece six minutes into the middle period off a Wolfgang Zinger goal.
Five minutes later Freshman Blake Award broke the 1-1 stalemate and retook the lead for the Eagles 11 minutes into the second.
However, for the second time Saturday night Pope Francis tied it up. This time, it was Wes Asselin who brought the game to 2-2 with his backhand.
Late into the third period with just 5:58 remaining, Christian Coleman played the hero for St. John’s Prep, netting his first goal of the season to put the Eagles up 3-2. From there, the defense and goaltender Jesse Bernardinelli did enough to hold off the Cardinals and allow the Eagles to get revenge on last year’s loss in the tournament final.
