Hockey Headlines: Two Big Nights for St. Anthony's

Update: St. Anthony's beat Fordham Prep last night 6-1, so the regular season title can be clinched either tonight against Monsignor Farrell or on Friday.

The next two nights are huge for St. Anthony’s hockey, as the team will take on theonly two opponents it’s lost to this year in an attempt to lock up the CHSAA Division A title.

St. Anthony’s (11-2-0) is currently in first place in the CHSAA’s A Division with 22 points. The team is allowing less than two goals per game (20 total), while scoring nearly five (62 total) per contest.

The Friars take on Fordham Prep tonight, before facing Monsignor Farrell on Saturday and again next Friday in its final game of the season.

"The first time we played Farrell we were missing our top eight forwards," coach Jeff Stelmok said. "So we were missing the bulk of our firepower. Tomorrow night will be a good tell-all. They’re a very good team, they’re very fast, they’re full pressure."

But Stelmok points to the teams depth and versatility as factors in their favor.

"We can trap. We can play an aggressive forcheck. We can counter breakouts and forchecks," he said. "Our guys play a very sound game. All five guys are on the same page. That’s really our greatest strength—cohesion."

Stelmok said there are plusses and minuses to facing the same team in back-to-back games.

"Both sides get to learn a little bit more," he said. "But the more we see an opponent, the more well-versed we’ll be with acclimating and making adjustments, which I think is another one of our strengths."

Note: I know we haven't given too much coverage to hockey in the past, so we're going to try to start rectifying that problem. We'll be blogging about the sport, and putting beat notes in the paper as well. I wrote one for this Sunday about St. Anthony's return to prominence after a sub-.500 year last season. I'm new to the beat, however, so if any of you have any comments on what you'd like to see, please feel free to comment on the thread.