Captains Mazzella (25) & L. Campomenosi (12) celebrate 1st period goal
Wayne – After a grueling semi-final game, a 3-2 overtime win over Glen Rock (see Burns’ goal below), the Ironmen where poised to take a on a familiar foe. Cross-town rival Ramsey High School, for the 3rd straight time in the Bergen County Final.
Playing two of its finest periods of hockey of the season, Bosco opened up to a 4-0 lead on goals by Seniors Chris Mazzella and Marcus Gurega, followed up by Freshman Tyler Sedlack and Junior Brendan Hansen. The latter two goals, both brilliantly setup by great passes from Sophomore Defenseman Aaron Bohlinger and Junior Toby DiPaolo.
“The maturity level of our team continues to rise,” said Toskos. “Look at Glen Rock the other night in the semifinals. We were short-handed nine players on our injury list, some played, some didn’t, but the fact that they were able to come from behind against an outstanding goalie, someone who really could have shut us down, said a lot.”
Facing a revived Ramsey team in the 3rd period, Bosco allowed two goals in the final frame, but added an empty netter to capture their 5th straight Bergen County Championship, improving to 15-0 all time.
WAYNE – In one of the most physical games of the season, between two of the State’s top programs, Don Bosco prevailed 2-1 to win their 4th straight Bergen County Tournament, becoming the only champion that the tournament has ever seen. Billed as a battle of Ramsey, before a standing room only crowd, the game did not disappoint. Evenly matched up and down the lineups, Ramsey outshot Bosco 33-32, but could only muster a single goal on DBP Goalie Alexei Masanko.
Bosco entered the game having defeated Mahwah 7-0 and rival Bergen Catholic 3-2, while Ramsey’s road to the final included an 8-0 win over Indian Hills and an overtime victory over Glen Rock, 2-1.
Bosco senior, Joe Verboys, whose 2 goal performance against Bergen Catholic, propelled the Ironmen into their fourth straight finals appearance, was again the hero. Up 1-0 but facing an onslaught from the Ramsey power play, senior, Michael Jordan’s clearing attempt came right off the boards to Verboys, who got behind the Ramsey defenders and buried what turned out to be the game winner.
PRINCETON – Chris Mazzella had been held scoreless for five straight periods, following his hat trick a week ago at Gloucester Catholic, but with 14 seconds left on the clock, the Junior forward wasn’t going to let it get to six. Coming out of a timeout and down 2-1, Senior Captain Hunter Garlasco, who had an uneven day in the faceoff dot, won a draw clean, right to Mazzella, who ripped a shot past Princeton Day Goalie Logan Kramsky (43 saves) to tie the game with 12 seconds left.
“Hunter did a great job with that faceoff to win it back and put it right in my wheelhouse,” Mazzella, who scored his team-leading eighth goal, said. “I just tried to get it in on net and lucky enough, it went in.” Rich Greco covered the game for NJ.com.
Watch Chris Mazzella talk about the game tying goal
Sophomore forward Matt Brown kicked off the scoring in the first period with his second goal of the season and Alexei Masanko made 13 saves on 15 shots as the Ironmen earned a hard fought tie. Bosco dominated the latter half of the second period and the entire third, putting 45 shots on net and dominating play in the PDS end before finally breaking through to tie the game. Next up, North Jersey’s best rivalry continues, as the #2 ranked Ironmen take on Bergen Catholic, Friday night 7 pm at the Ice Vault. All those in attendance are encouraged to bring an unwrapped teddy bear to throw on the ice, for the first annual Teddy Bear Toss to be held between the second and third period intermission.
Alexei Masanko discusses how his role has changed from last year to this year
Don Bosco defeats Delbarton 3-2 in Overtime on Griffin Welch’s overtime goal to win its first ever Gordon Cup Championship. The game featured exciting end to end play. Don Bosco, playing in its second Gordon Cup Championship game in three years prevailed after letting the Green Wave back in the game late in the 3rd. Check out the star ledger recap here.
The Don Bosco Prep hockey team had the thrill of a lifetime getting to step out onto the ice at Yankee Stadium to take on CBA. The game finished in a 1-1 tie, Darren Cooper and JJ Conrad of the Bergen Record provided excellent coverage for the event.
