St. Joe’s coach Rich Crozier and his team hadn’t thought too much about last year’s heartbreaking loss to Canisius too often — just every day. The haunting loss made the Marauders want to win this year more than ever, and a year of hard work later, St. Joe’s came away with a 4-0 win on February 29 in the private school finals.
“For whatever reason, it wasn’t meant to be last year,” Crozier said. “It made us very hungry this year. Those young men in there, I give them a lot of credit. We worked our tails off. This week was our 53rd practice, we played 28 games, and we went six days in a row every day. We’d go seven in a row, but the state doesn’t allow us. These guys worked incredibly hard. I’m so happy for them.”
It was good that the Marauders were accustomed to hard work because the championship game was a challenge in itself. Although St. Joe’s had won both regular season matchups while Canisius didn’t have the strong finish to the season that the Crusaders had hoped for, the rivalry and the desire to win on both sides made the game a tough one and an even one for much of the 45 minutes in spite of the final score. And it’s known in hockey that beating a team three times in one season is one of the toughest things to do.
“We knew they were gonna come out hard,” Mike Greco said. “It’s a big game. I know they didn’t have the end to the regular season they wanted to, but Joe’s-Canisius, First Niagara Center, anything can happen, and they were gonna come out hard. We knew we had to match their intensity and beat it if we wanted to come out successful tonight.”
“I just expected a dog fight, a good game,” goaltender Dan Mikolajczak said. “It’s always like that. Played ’em two close games this season, well three now, and just ended up on top all three times.”
But Crozier saw that hard work he’d come to expect from his team, and the Marauders’ work ethic helped them to outlast Canisius.
“I thought we showed some resilience,” Crozier said. “That’s stressful. This is a stressful game. You’re playing your biggest rival, you’re trying to beat them for the third time in one season. In the same position last year, it’s tough to beat anyone three times, let alone your biggest rival in front of all those kids from school and parents and family … I don’t know that it was our best performance, but again I think it was our work ethic all year long. That’s one of the things we take pride in. We’re blue collar, and we worked incredibly hard. This was our goal — to get back here and to make sure what happened last year didn’t happen again, and hats off to those young men. I’m so proud of them.”
Defenseman Brad Herlan finally broke through the scoreless tie with less than two minutes remaining in the second period with a shot from the point that found its way through and earned Herlan the game MVP award.
“Canisius was playing three guys high, which we’ve never seen before,” Herlan said. “So Jack [Attea] fed it to me, and there were two guys in front screening, so I just ripped it glove side and it went in.”
Greco added to the lead with less than five minutes remaining in the third, and St. Joe’s finally had some breathing room.
“Augie [Cudeck] made a good play, getting that puck to the middle,” Greco said. “I was fortunate. I think the D caught an edge or something or a rivet, and I was in on goal, land I was trying to settle the puck down and get a quick shot, and I got it blocker side off the post and in.”
Empty-net goals from Nick Carbone and Max McArthur sealed the 4-0 win. Mikolajczak finished with the shutout in net, but as they’ve done all season, the defensemen limited the opponent’s shots. Canisius finished with just 15 shots on goal compared to the Marauders’ 29.
“Just side-to-side movements, getting ready for the shots before they come,” was Mikolajczak’s game. “Our D unit held ’em down to probably below 15 shots, helped out … Two empty-net goals helped take some pressure off, but it was just a great feeling once that buzzer sounded and we knew we won.”
The win was bigger than just the team itself, according to Crozier. It was a win for the school, and for the team it started with the players, especially the 11 seniors on this year’s team, and carried over to their parents as well.
“Those 11 kids in there, you got kids in there that have stuck with the program playing Fed hockey for the first year, and just living their dream today,” Crozier said. “I’m thrilled for every one of those seniors, and more importantly, I’m thrilled for their parents. Think about all their parents put in, all the sacrifices, time, financially, it’s great for those families. I can tell you this — they come from great families. Those are great young men, and I feel very fortunate, I get them at the end … It’s not me making them look good. They make me look good, and I just feel blessed to be their coach.”
The win over Canisius was step two of three for St. Joe’s. Step one was defeating St. Francis in the semifinals, step two was Canisius, and step three came the following weekend in Brooklyn, New York.
“It’s something we’ve been talking about since the first time we stepped on the ice, kind of like the three steps: beating St. Francis, Canisius here, and then finishing off in New York City against St. Anthony’s,” Greco explained.
Next stop: New York City.
“All of our hard work has paid off,” Herlan said. “It feels good. We just focus on going to Brooklyn and taking it home.”
“Should be a lot of fun,” Greco said. “It’s always good competition down there. It’ll be really good to have another week of practice, better than being done tonight. Have another week of practice with all the seniors. And the bus ride down will be fun, the hotel is always fun, and then taking care of business against St. Anthony’s — that’ll be the best part.”