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BHS: St. Thomas Academy Douses Holy Family

By Peter Odney, 12/09/17, 9:45PM CST

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The Cadets scored three times in the second period to cruise to a 4-1 win over the Fire.


St. Thomas Academy celebrates one of its four goals in Saturday's win over Holy Family Catholic. Photo by Spencer St. Dennis.

Depth, Desire Key Factors in Cadet Win

The luxury of being able to roll three lines for an entire game and not see any discernible dip in talent at the high school level is a treasure bestowed on few teams.

It's a blessing that rings true for St. Thomas Academy, ranked No. 4 in the latest state coaches' poll, and the Cadets utilized their depth to earn a 4-1 win over No. 8-2A Holy Family Catholic on Saturday. 

Nico Vega, Ray Christy, and Payton Matsui scored succession to give the Cadets (4-1) a 3-1 lead after two periods, and Christy would add a second goal in the third frame to ice the win for the Cadets. 

"I think it's an attitude of wanting to get to the puck first," Cadets' co-head coach Greg Vanelli said after the game.  

"We've got a lot of gritty players that are very competitive, and I think they displayed that today."

Vanelli added that weathering a three-penalty first period while only surrendering one goal was an essential piece of the winning formula. 

"We had to focus on getting out of the penalties without getting scored on, and then (we would) hopefully wear them down a little bit," Vanelli explained.  

Senior forward and Wisconsin commit Ben Almquist scored the lone goal for the Fire (3-2-1) in the loss.

Youth Hockey Hub staffer Spencer St. Dennis contributed to this report.  


Ben Almquist (11) scored the lone goal for Holy Family Catholic in Saturday's loss. Photo by Spencer St. Dennis.

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