The St. Anthony’s Friars took on the Iona Prep Gaels on Wednesday, January 29th at the Dix Hills Ice Rink. The Friars were looking to continue their five game win streak and heading into the game with an 8-2-1 record.
The Friars took on an early lead with a goal from senior, Ryan Onderdonk, assisted by senior, Jake Karant, 33 seconds into the game. Paddy Wedge scored shortly after for Iona with an assist from Tommy Haggerty, to tie the game with 11:48 remaining in the 1st period. The Friars would answer back with an unassisted goal from senior, Jack Barone.
The Friars encountered a penalty, but quickly turned it around with a short-handed goal from junior, Luca Mandato, assisted by senior, Pat Allen and junior, Jake Barry. Mandato stated, “They were on the power play, we put pressure on them…and buried them.” The pressure the team put on their opponents brought them to their 3-1 lead going into the 2nd period. Where only one goal was scored by sophomore, Jake Manfre with an assist by sophomore, Carmine Pitelli. SA was up with a commanding 4-1 lead.
The Friars offense erupted in the third period scoring 3 goals. The scoring opened with junior Bobby Lane who was assisted by juniors, Joe Messina and James Penzavecchia. The Friars continued to add numbers to the board after a pass from Manfre lead Onderdonk to his second goal of the night. Late in the 3rd period, senior captain, Pat Allen scored a short-handed goal from Mandato for the final score of night ending the game 7-1.
Friars goalie Anthony Russo played extremely well vs. Iona making big saves all game long. He finished with 13 saves and with champs only 3 weeks away this type of performance from not only Russo, is what it is going to take for the SA to capture another League Championship. This win puts the Friars in 1st place with 3 games left in the regular season including one against Chaminade who holds the number 2 spot in the CHSAA.
Kallie Shanahan is a junior at St. Anthony’s, this is her first year with Friar Scoreboard. She is also a member of the chorus, NHS, SALT and Friar Faithful. In the future she hopes to major in sports communications and become a sports broadcaster.
