'We are here and here to win': St. Paul hockey brings home first title in program history

WESTBOROUGH — As Colin Kreuz skated off the surface at NorthStar Ice Sports Wednesday afternoon, the St. Paul junior captain couldn’t help but smile.

After scoring the tying goal and watching teammates Curtis Patrick and John Coleman also connect, Kreuz was mobbed by family and friends as he made his way to the locker room to celebrate the second-seeded Knights’ 3-1 win over No. 4 Marlborough in the Central Mass. Class A championship.

For the first time in the program’s short history, the St. Paul boys’ hockey team is bringing home some hardware.

“Being able to be able to move up to Class A this year and bring home the plaque is huge,” Kreuz said. “It shows what we’ve accomplished as a program the last few years and where we’ve gotten to now.”

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“To see how hard these kids have worked over the past couple of years and to see it starting to pay off is just so good to see,” St. Paul coach Jay Monfreda said. “These core kids, who have been here since the beginning, set a goal our first year to put St. Paul hockey on the map, and today they let all of Central (Mass.) know that we are not just happy to be here, we are here and here to win.”

St. Paul improved to 16-3-1 and is currently slotted No. 14 in the MIAA Division 3 power rankings. Marlborough moved to 9-8-3 and is ranked 18th in D3.

By beating Nashoba and Marlborough to claim the Central Mass. Class A title, the Knights feel battle tested heading into the postseason.

“These two wins really make the team feel good,” St. Paul senior captain Chris Palmero said. “We’re ready to go for the playoffs, and I'm just ready to go as far as we can, hopefully a championship. That would be great.”

Kreuz control with the Knights

After St. Peter-Marian and Holy Name merged to make St. Paul Diocesan Junior-Senior High School in 2020, the new Knights hockey program won just four games in their inaugural season.

Yet after securing the program’s first MIAA Tournament berth with a 12-win campaign last year, St. Paul came into Wednesday’s game looking to prove it belonged in the upper echelon of teams in Division 3 and Central Mass.

Following a scoreless first period with Marlborough, the Panthers struck first when a shot from the blue line by senior Alex Todd glanced off a St. Paul defender and into the net with 5:11 left in the second.

It didn’t take long, however, for the Knights to strike back.

Just 31 seconds later, Kreuz took a pass from freshman linemate Evan Waden, skated into the middle of the Marlborough zone and ripped a shot into the top-left shelf to tie the game at 1-1.

“He gets the puck in that situation and — not just against us — that’s a lot of trouble for a lot of teams,” Marlborough coach Mike O’Brien said.

Kreuz has compiled a Central Mass.-best 49 points (15 goals, 34 assists), while Waden sits just behind him with 44 points (20 goals, 24 assists).

The dynamic duo are like Batman and Robin out on the ice for the Knights.

“We’re just good friends,” Kreuz said. “We know each other, (we) have good chemistry, and (he) just puts pucks into the back of the net.”

With 27.1 seconds left in the second period, Patrick, a St. Paul junior, put another puck into the net for the Knights to make it 2-1 heading into the second intermission.

From there, it was all St. Paul as a goal from Coleman — following a nifty play and assist from Patrick — four minutes into the third period put the game on ice. Once the final horn sounded, St. Paul’s captains Kreuz, Palmero and sophomore Aiden Boyce collected the Central Mass. Class A championship plaque.

“It’s a nice feeling that us as a sports team can produce (championships) at St. Paul, and just win and take (home) trophies,” Boyce said.

Historic season so far for St. Paul boys' hockey

If that wasn’t enough history for one day, St. Paul’s coach secured his 100th career win Wednesday. Monfreda previously coached the Algonquin and St. Peter-Marian girls’ programs before taking over at St. Paul’s.

“It means a lot,” Monfreda said. “Especially with this group of kids, there’s not a bad kid in the bunch, and it’s really nice to get (100 career wins) with this group, and it’s something special for sure.”

“I’m really happy for him that he got his 100th win,” Palmero said. “I’m happy for the team, I’ve been here since the first day that the team started, so it feels good to see all the progress.”

That progress was on full display Wednesday. So, too, were the smiles.

These are the moments the St. Paul boys’ hockey program have been waiting for since its inception three years ago.

“It has been a lot of fun to have a lot of success with my teammates, especially those of us that were there that tough first year,” said Kreuz, who collected his 100th career point earlier this winter. “It’s special.”

“These guys know they have talent,” Monfreda added, “and as long as they stick with the system and keep on trucking, then good things will happen, and we saw it again today.”

—Contact Tommy Cassell at tcassell@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tommycassell44. 

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: St. Paul boys hockey beats Marlborough in Central Mass. Class A final