WEST ORANGE — The Seton Hall Prep youth movement seemed reasonable entering this season, but the Pirates got a nice dose of maturity on the ice today.
After graduating 14 seniors and losing talented goalie John Profaci to transfer, the depletion was hardly noticeable as senior Thomas Colucci collected a pair of goals, classmates Ryan Kemp and Anthony Martine each added a goal and and assist while freshman goalie Jake Schunke turned aside 21 shots in his varsity debut as Seton Hall rolled to a 6-2 victory over Bergen Catholic in the season-opening contest at Codey Arena.
The level of poise displayed throughout most of the 45-minute match was evident from the opening faceoff for Seton Hall, which controlled the boards, the middle of the ice and the neutral zone for long spurts.
Seton Hall surely did that in building a 3-0 lead and throwing 14 shots at Bergen Catholic starting goalie Chris Branch (14 saves).
Martine got the scoring burst started when he picked off a wobbling puck at the Bergen Catholic blue line and darted in on Branch. Martine sped in and put a shot five-hole for an unassisted tally and a 1-0 advantage just 1:36 after the opening draw.
Just over three minutes later Oliver Grinkin shoveled in a shot off a scramble in the left circle just as Seton Hall’s first power play expired for an even strength goal, and a 2-0 lead, as Christopher Kelly and Kevin Harcourt assisted.
Bergen Catholic didn’t falter and Will Frasseto nearly cut the deficit in half, but Schunke denied his backhand from a crowded slot with 2:51 remaining to preserve the Pirates’ two-goal lead.
And 40 seconds later it was Colucci who finished off a two-on-one with Phil Feinberg and buried a shot from the right circle to make it 3-0 before the first period concluded.
Throughout much of the second period Seton Hall was able to keep the puck in deep in the offensive zone and cut off lanes in the middle of the ice, negating much of Bergen Catholic’s speed.
Kemp and Colucci both added goals in the second, while Devon Kelly struck for Bergen Catholic’s initial goal in the second period, which Seton Hall controlled and outshot the Crusaders by a 15-4 margin in building a 5-1 lead.
Still, Bergen Catholic had a chance to swing the momentum when it trailed, 4-1, but had a five-on-three advantage for 36 seconds followed by a five-on-four power play for another 1:24 but was unable to capitalize.
Colucci then banged home the rebound of a shot by Kemp with 2:22 left in the second for the four-goal lead.
At the forefront in that sense was Schunke, who was posed smooth throughout in his crease.
Seton Hall outshot Bergen Catholic 13-7 in the third (42-23 overall) and James Gabriel tapped in a cross-slot pass from Martine with 7:29 left to extend the lead to 6-1.
Frasseto scored an unassisted goal for Bergen to cut the deficit to 6-2 just over a minute later.
“Seton Hall got those three goals in the first period and it’s tough to come back from that deficit,” said Bergen Catholic first-year coach and former standout Tom Keough.