St. Paul’s hockey wins Central Mass. crown, loses in first round of state tournament

BY BILL DOYLE | CFP CORRESPONDENT
 
When the pairings were announced for the Central Mass. Athletic Directors Association hockey tournaments, St. Paul Diocesan Jr./Sr. High School was placed in Class B.

St. Paul’s coach Jay Monfreda wasn’t satisfied. He realized that St. Paul's belonged in Class B because of its enrollment, but he asked to move up to Class A to play against the tougher competition to prepare for the state tournament.

It was a risky move, but it paid off. St. Paul’s captured the Class A championship by defeating Nashoba Regional, the defending Division 3 state champion, and Marlborough High School, the 2022 Division 3 state runner-up.

“That was amazing,” Mr. Monfreda said. “Probably the most satisfying two games of the last three years.”

In the Class A semifinal, Evan Wade scored his second goal of the game 27 seconds into overtime to lift St. Paul's to a 2-1 victory over Nashoba on Feb. 19 at the Worcester Ice Center. Colin Kreuz, Cameron Swank and Leyton Riendeau had assists and Chris Palermo made 22 saves.

No. 2 seeded St. Paul’s defeated No. 4 Marlborough, 3-1, on Feb. 22 at NorthStar Ice Sports in the final to win the Class A title. Kreuz, Curtis Patrick and John Coleman scored, and Palermo made 20 saves for the Knights.

The Knights showed resilience by winning the Central Mass. crown after they had lost their regular-season finale to Blackstone Valley Tech, 3-1 on Feb. 14, in a game that determined the Russell Conference championship.
 
The victory over Marlborough was the 100th in the coaching career of Monfreda, who coached girls hockey at Algonquin and St. Peter-Marian before starting the St. Paul’s boys’ hockey program two years ago.

“That was awesome,” Mr. Monfreda said. “I couldn’t have scripted it any better.”

St. Paul’s magical season came to an end with a 7-4 loss to Watertown High at the Worcester Ice Center in the first round of the Division 3 state tournament on Feb. 28. Waden had two goals and Kreuz and Coleman each scored one. Palermo made 26 saves.

The Knights scored twice in the second period to tie the score, 2-2, before Watertown scored five goals in the third period to secure the victory. St. Paul hadn’t previously allowed more than three goals in a game all season.

“They definitely do not like to lose at all,” Mr. Monfreda said of his players. “So, they were definitely crabby and not very happy, obviously. I think they felt they could have and should have won the game. It was more anger than sadness.”

Mr. Monfreda did his best to pick up the spirits of his players after the loss. He said he told them, “They played their hearts out, they left it all on the ice and I couldn’t have been more proud of how they represented themselves and Central Mass. in that game and all year.”

The Knights finished 16-4-1, almost a reversal of their record of 4-14 two years ago when St. Paul started a hockey team after St. Peter-Marian Central Catholic Jr./Sr. High School and Holy Name Central Catholic Jr./Sr. High School merged to form the school. Last year, the Knights improved to 13-8-1.

“That first year we had 10 guys,” Mr. Monfreda said, “and it was basically like that core of kids were like, ‘OK, we’re here, we’re going to play hockey and we want to put St. Paul on the map,’ and we basically did that this year.”

High school teams don’t always improve from year to year, but the Knights certainly did.

“We have a good core of kids and they’re smart and they think the game,” Mr. Monfreda said.

The Knights used their intelligence and speed to score a lot of goals on the rush after their opponents turned the puck over.

Palermo was the only senior on the team so the Knights should be strong again next year, as long as they can find a capable goaltender. Palermo has started every game in St. Paul’s three-year hockey history and he posted a 1.83 goals against average this season.

“Chris has been the backbone of our group for three years,” Mr. Monfreda said.

Mr. Monfreda expects sophomore Tristian Melo and freshman Ben Richard to battle for the starting job next year.

Next year, the Knights should have five seniors, three juniors, seven sophomores and a freshman back from this season.

Kreuz, whose father Nick is an assistant coach for St. Paul's, led Central Mass. in scoring for the second year in a row, collecting points on 16 goals and 36 assists. He fell short of matching his total of a year ago when he had 57 points on 21 goals and 36 assists, but Mr. Monfreda believes he had a more consistently strong season this winter.

Through three seasons, the 6-foot-2, 170-pound junior has collected 139 points and Mr. Monfreda believes he could reach 200 before he graduates.

“I wouldn’t put anything past him, that’s for sure,” Mr. Monfreda said. “He’ll be a senior next year, bigger, stronger, probably faster. I think he has a shot at it.”

Waden enjoyed a strong postseason, and he finished ranked second in the region with 46 points on 22 goals and 24 assists. He’s only a freshman.

“He’s just all-out effort,” Mr. Monfreda said. “There’s not a time on the ice where he takes a shift off. He’s always 110 percent, full tilt. He’ll be the first guy in the offensive zone throwing a body check and if the other team comes back the other way, he’s back checking his butt off to get back and make a defensive play.”

Mr. Monfreda appreciates the leadership shown by Kreuz, Waden, Patrick (15-11-26), a junior center, and sophomore Aidan Boyce (10-13-20). He also was impressed by the improvement of three freshmen, forward Jack Coleman (8-5-13) and defensemen Swank (9-12-21) and Riendeau (6-11-17).

The St. Paul's season had a lot of highlights.

“It was kind of like a culmination of all our hard work over the last couple of years,” Mr. Monfreda said. “Just coming out and seeing it firsthand, like in the flesh.”