How goalie Angelo Evangelista and unbeaten Prout handed Hendricken hockey its first loss
WARWICK — Angelo Evangelista lost his stick — laid out limbs, skates, pads and all — and still kept his line clean.
Inconceivable, but successful, the goalie ascended back to his feet just to have his stick knocked away again.
Rinse and repeat for the netminder.
And that was just a two-minute sequence for the Prout School goalie in the middle stanza. Evangelista’s 20 saves in the second period, and 44 for the game, kept the Crusaders ahead as Prout (7-0) knocked off Hendricken, 4-2, on Friday night at Thayer Arena.
“He’s just a battler,” Prout coach John Gaffney said of Evangelista. “He battles down in front, he kicks stuff out. He’s tough as nails.”
Here are three takeaways on how Prout held off Hendricken in an early season matchup of Division I contenders:
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Evangelista stands on his head
The Hawks (9-1) rang the left post just three minutes into the contest. And five minutes in, Hendricken was on the board as Cullen Crain buried a breakaway chance top left from Andrew Soscia.
The defending state champions had the Crusaders on their heels early, but enter Evangelista. The junior didn’t surrender another goal until 44 seconds left in regulation.
Allowing the early tally helped Prout settle into the contest. The physicality rose with six minutes left in the first period, and with under two to play Aidan Forcier struck on the power play from just inside the blue line.
“We love [Evangelista], he does his job and he really bails us out sometimes,” senior defenseman Tyler Simo said.
Prout built a 3-1 advantage after the Forcier tally on a pair of goals by Caleb Burnett. The first, which came on with 9:53 remaining in the second, slid past the Hendricken goalie after a glove save wasn’t cleared.
“That was a big go-ahead goal there,” Burnett said. “We couldn’t get the puck out and go and score. It really turned the theme of the game.”
Evangelista’s game-defining stretch came three minutes later as he faced a barrage of Hendricken attempts.
“That game is all [Evangelista],” Hendricken coach Michael Soscia said.
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Game had a playoff feel
Burnett’s second goal came with 8:18 left in the third period as Forcier found the slicing forward in space and beat Colin Murray (24 saves) for what would be the game-winning score.
It's only the second week in January, but Thayer Arena had a playoff feel. Both teams entered undefeated with Hendricken having the slight edge in total points.
“It was a great environment; it was fun,” Soscia said. “One vs. two and two knocked us off.”
Said Gaffney: “This has been coming. We saw this on the calendar for sure and the guys knew about it, absolutely.
Hendricken, with its goalie pulled, struck with 44 seconds left in regulation as Nicholas Stevens finished off a scrum in front of the Prout net.
Forcier buried an empty-net tally just 20 seconds later to stymie the Hawks’ chances.
“The energy was there, everything was there,” Burnett said. “It felt like a playoff game.”
Was this a wake-up call for Hendricken?
Last winter Hendricken dropped a 5-2 decision to Warwick before the new year. The Hawks would go on to not lose another game en route to another title.
Could Friday’s loss set the state’s premier program back on track?
“It’s true, you always learn more from a loss than you do from a win,” Soscia said. “We always take that to heart and we’re just going to look back and watch film and see what we can do better.”
Soscia said that Prout outworked the Hawks and took advantage of every opportunity presented.
“They’re just a very talented team and they’re very opportunistic,” Soscia said.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Prout boys hockey takes down unbeaten Bishop Hendricken, remains perfect
