By Dylan Butler
Steve Cameron was Public Enemy No. 1 as far as the St. Peter’s hockey team was concerned Friday at Abe Stark Rink on Coney Island. And the St. Francis Prep senior defenseman-turned-winger couldn’t have been happier.
Terriers head coach Billy Turner told Cameron his role in his last high school game and the finale of the best-of-three CHSHL ‘B’ championship series was to shadow powerful St. Peter’s forward Andrew Russo.
For a second straight game, Cameron did a brilliant job of negating the league’s top scorer. And while Cameron took care of Russo, James Bertorelli handled the offense, scoring four of the Terriers’ five goals as St. Francis Prep captured the ‘B’ title with a convincing 5-3 win.
“The key to the series was being able to shut down Russo,” Turner said. “We staved off two elimination games because we played great team defense.”
After starting the program four years ago, St. Francis Prep (13-6-2) has taken the express elevator up the ranks to become one of the top teams in the Catholic league.
In just two seasons the Terriers went from the ‘C’ division, where they won the title last year, to the ‘B’ division and now after winning its second straight championship, will move up to play in the elite ‘A’ division next season, becoming the first team in league history to move up that quickly.
“It just shows you how the program has developed in four years,” said Bertorelli, who scored seven goals in the final two games of the series. “We have to get ready for next year. It starts Monday. We’ll have a good weekend and then we start preparing for next year.”
It looked anything like it would be a one-sided win by St. Francis Prep after the game’s first shift when the Eagles capped a dominating opening 58 seconds on a rebound goal by Anthony Longo after a long scramble in front to put St. Peter’s (11-10-1) ahead, 1-0.
Bertorelli tied the game at 1 when he took Cameron’s backhand pass from the left circle and stretched out to push the puck past Eagles goaltender Mike Ruggerio with 8:25 left in the first period.
The junior winger from Astoria netted the next two goals to complete the hat trick and after Giancarlo Racanelli added a power play goal 1:39 later to give the Terriers a commanding 4-1 lead, St. Peter’s head coach Rob Gravina called timeout and pulled Ruggerio in favor of Mike Guaneri.
“The first shift, they showed they really wanted it, but there’s just so far you can go,” Gravina said of his team, which played its sixth game in seven days. “No one does that, not even in the pros.”
While the fruits of Bertorelli’s labor could be found on the scoreboard, Cameron received confirmation of a job well done via a Russo cross-check to the back of his head behind the play with 4:05 left in the third period.
Russo, who lost his cool and was issued a double minor in Game 2, sat for two minutes and would never get back on the ice.
Cameron’s attention during the game was focused squarely on Russo’s broad shoulders, but his thoughts before and after the game were with his late mother, Joyce Cameron, who lost her battle with cancer in September 1999.
“I said a prayer to my mother. I know she was watching the last couple of days,” Cameron said. “She’s all I could think about today. I’ve been through a lot and I couldn’t ask for a better way to end it. I just wish she could have been here to see it.”
Holy Cross wins ‘C’ division crown
The second game of the best-of-three ‘C’ division championship series was about as bad as it gets for Holy Cross last Thursday at the Ice Hutch in Mount Vernon.
The Knights squandered a chance to win the series, falling to Salesian 4-2. And in the process, they also lost first line forward Ray Wilson, who received a controversial game misconduct for verbal abuse of the officials just before skating off the ice.
Holy Cross head coach Mike Mitchell wasn’t sure how his team would react Saturday in the series finale at Abe Stark Rink, but quickly learned when he reached the locker room.
“Outside the locker room before the game I heard them talking about the game, about what to do,” he said. “I knew they wanted it because usually they’re talking about everything but the game.”
Holy Cross backed up its words on the ice and, thanks to a Bryan Benini goal with 4:46 left in the third, the Knights edged Salesian, 3-2, to win the CHSHL ‘C’ division title. It was the second city championship for Holy Cross, which also won the ‘C’ division crown in 1998.
“It’s indescribable. Once the buzzer went off, what a feeling of relief,” said Holy Cross freshman goaltender Matt Cammarata, who made 24 saves and was named MVP of the playoffs.
The championship-clinching victory capped an amazing comeback for the Knights who finished last in the ‘B’ division last year with a 2-13-0 record.
“We had a bad losing record, but it was more than just the record. We were all down on each other,” said Holy Cross senior captain Mike Vohs. “This year was a whole different story. This year we were all tight like a family.”
Chris Ryan and Mark Goetzger scored early goals for Holy Cross (15-4-2) and after Tom Mele tied the game at 1, John Bykowski tied the game at 2 with 10:05 left in the third. But that’s when Benini provided the late game dramatics, beating Salesian goaltender Paolo D’Onofria with a low snap shot from the left circle.
“I can’t describe how great this feels,” said Holy Cross sophomore Joe Temperini. “Especially after so many years of losing.”
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
