January 23, 2012
The week that was for the Junior Lions brought forth some very good and very sad news. The week started out with the revelation that assistant captain Patrick McCann is out for the season after surgery to repair a broken ankle suffered in a contest in the first week in January. Standout freshman forward Isaiah Sands is also lost for the remainder of the season after surgery to repair a torn ligament in his arm that was cut by a skate blade in last week's victory against New Trier. read more

January 17, 2012
This past weekend, the Saint Viator Junior Lions competed against Metro North rival New Trier Trevian squad, recently ranked third in the state of Illinois at the JV level. 

Looking to rebound from a disappointing 1-3 loss the weekend before, the Junior Lions would have their work cut out for them.  The drop of the puck had New Trier pushing the pace, but the solid Lions defense would prove to be just a taste of things to come.  A forced turnover led to a loose puck behind the Lions goal line and provided all the space freshman defenseman Jon Ostling would need to mount a counter attack.  Ostling rushed up the ice into Trevian territory, and found freshman forward Brandon Stewart, who hammered home a one-timer to give the Lions an early 1-0 lead. The Trevians continued to press and ultimately drew a power-play, but the Lions continued to play solid defense.  The Lions forced a turnover in their end and Ostling moved the puck quickly up ice to freshman forward Adam Czarnecki, whose well-placed snap shot put the Lions up 2-0. 

The second period featured more intense pressure from the Trevian attack, with the occasional rush and chance by the Lions. On one such rush, Ostling rushed up ice, skated past two Trevian defenders, cut to the net and tucked the puck under the Trevian net minder to give the Lions a 3-0 lead. 

The third period showcased the Lions’ fortitude and determination as the defense and sophomore goalie Joe Herrmann continued to hold the Trevian attack at bay through two and a half periods. However, with just under 8 minutes to play, the Trevians were able to put a shot past Herrmann from just inside the right face-off dot to cut the Lions’ lead to two.  It seemed that this was the Lions’ day, since less than two minutes later, freshman forward Mike Scully jabbed in a rebound after a flurry of activity in front of the Trevian goal to put the Lions up 4-1.  The Trevians would add a late power-play goal to cut the Lions’ lead to 4-2, but would get no closer. 

Ostling finished with two assists and the game winning goal; Herrmann was stellar in net, making 43 saves. However, the hard hat went to Scully, whose tough penalty kill play and 4th goal was enough to ice the victory for the Lions.

The Junior Lions have a busy schedule with games on Tuesday, 5:40 p.m. at Hoffman against Benet, Wednesday, 8:40 at Buffalo Grove against Loyola and Saturday at 7:20 at Wilmette against Evanston.

November 29, 2011
The Junior Lions were in action 4 times over the Holiday weekend with a grudge match of a metro contest opening up the weekend’s action on Wednesday in Buffalo Grove against the Stevenson Patriots. The Junior Lions had something to prove as they were beaten soundly 6-0 by the Patriots a little more than a month ago. The Lions played a tentative game, and halfway through the 1st period, the Patriots capitalized on a Saint Viator turn over deep in their own end when a quick shot off a Stevenson player’s stick beat Joe Hermann to make the game 1-0, but this contest would not be a repeat of the prior meeting. The Junior Lions clamped down and began to trade scoring chances with the Patriots and prove they were a formidable opponent. Early in the third period, freshman defenseman Jon Ostling's wrist shot found the back of the net and the Lions tied the game 1-1. The Lions were unable to convert on a late 3rd period power play, and just as both teams returned to full-strength, Stevenson was able to chip a puck past a pinching Lions defenseman and converted on a 2-on-1 rush to make the game 2-1 Stevenson with just under 4 minutes to go in the game. The Junior Lions began to press for offense and as a result yielded a breakaway to a Stevenson forward who beat Joe Hermann to ice the game for the Patriots 3-1. Although a loss in the standings, the Junior Lions continue to show improvement against top Metro north teams.

Over the weekend the Lions would play in the Loyola Thanksgiving tournament. The first opponent up for the Junior Lions was Glenbrook South. GBS had beaten the Lions less than a week ago in a one-sided 5-1 contest. The Lions gave up the first goal midway through the 1st after failing to clear out the front of the net and a GBS forward banged home a rebound to make the score 1-0. The Lions would answer right back with a goal on a 2-on-1 by Pat McCann, assisted by a perfect pass by Isaiah Sands. The game would stay knotted at 1 until late in the third period when again the Junior Lions had a breakdown in coverage in front of their net and another GBS forward put home a rebound to end the scoring as the Lions would go down to GBS 2-1 in yet another hard fought contest. The second game of the tournament would pit the Junior Lions against a mostly Varsity roster of Naperville Central. While the Junior Lions stuck with the Redhawks for the first half of the contest, trailing only 2-1, the Redhawks opened the flood gates late in the second to take a commanding 6-1 lead going into the third period. Despite strong efforts from several Junior Lions, the day was not to be and the Lions fell by a final of 7-1. In the final game of the weekend, the Lions took on St. Rita whom the Lions had beaten in Catholic league play via and overtime heart-stopper less than 2 weeks ago. With sophomore Joe Hermann serving on the varsity team, freshman Brendan 'Burkie' Berkman was between the pipes for the Lions. The two teams traded blows in the first period and the score was 1-1 after the first period. However a pair of late 2nd period goals took the wind out of the Junior Lions sails, and heading into the 3rd period the Lions were down 3-1. The toll of having played 3 games in 2 days, as well as having a shortened bench, did not serve the Junior Lions well as they were unable to mount a counter-offensive in the third period and surrendered an additional 2 goals to the Mustangs ultimately falling 5-1.

The Junior Lions will look to return to winning form this Wednesday against Warren in Buffalo Grove @ 8:40 and also have contests this Saturday against Glenbrook North at 8:30 in Northbrook and Sunday against St. Rita at 6:30 in Hoffman Estates.

February 19, 2010
State Playoff game versus Carmel

The Saint Viator Lions Junior Varsity hockey advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in the state playoffs with a resounding 9-0 rout over Carmel High School. Goalie Ryan Jamieson was a wall in net, stopping all of Carmel's shots for another shutout. The Lions' scoring parade was lead by two goals from master sniper Pete Niro. Niro started the scoring with a shot from the high slot and was assisted by Austin Ziakas.

Then, the Lions scored the first of their two short-handed goals when Scott Faul rebounded a shot from Patrick Gregory and jammed it past the goalie. Jim Murphy finished the first period scoring on a wicked slap shot from the point with a nice assist from Keegan Thornton. In the second period, the Lions got their other short-handed goal when Gregory picked the Carmel defenseman's pocket and beat the Carmel goalie with a backhander. Ryan Santorsola was the next Lion to score when he made several nifty moves to beat the goalie. John Joyce and Jeremy O'Donnell assisted on the goalie. Next, Jackson Owens proved that hard work pays off when he scored the Lions' sixth goal of the game on a pretty pass from Vinnie Mastrodomenico.

In the third period, Mastrodomenico went top shelf the score the next Lions' goal with Santorosola assisting. Niro scored his second goal in the third period unassisted. The Lions' finished the scoring when Scott Faul also got his second goal in a scrum in front of the Carmel net, with Frank Avino assisting. Overall, seven different Lions scored goals.

The next playoff game is Saturday, February 27, at 10:10 a.m. at The Edge Ice Arena in Bensenville versus Saint Rita.

February 3, 2010
Saint Viator at Metro North Playoffs

This week, the Saint Viator Lions JV hockey team began the playoffs for the Scholastic Cup, the most coveted trophy in all of high school hockey.  The playoffs start as a six-team round robin among the top teams in the Metro North Conference, with the top two teams advancing to the next round.  The Lions are the Metro North Conference champions, based on the regular season records.  The first playoff game was against Loyola Academy, the Saint Viator came away with a 1-1 tie.  Ryan Jamieson was stellar in net, and the Lions defensemen did a fantastic job of shutting down the Loyola attack.  The game was a hard-fought defensive struggle.  The Lions sole goal came from Vinnie Mastrodomenico on a quick wrister that the goalie never saw.

The Lions' next playoff opponent was Stevenson High School.  The Lions got off to a slow start and soon found themselves trailing 3-0 after one period.  However, the team came storming back for the second period and clearly had the Stevenson players back on their heels.  The Lions finally got on the scoreboard when Jackson Owens delivered a highlight reel pass onto the tape of Patrick Gregory's stick, and Gregory beat the goalie to make the score 3-1.  Then, late in second period and on the power play, Keegan Thornton crashed the net, found the loose puck, and jammed it home.  Assisted by Ryan Santorsola and Mike Haubner, the Lions had made it an one goal game with one period left to play.  In the third period, Stevenson was able to score first to boost the lead back to two goals.  However, the Lions did not give up, and their vicious fore-checking eventually paid off when Jeremy O'Donnell found the back of the net with an assist from Vinnie Mastrodomenico.  With a minute left to go, the Lions pulled their goalie for an extra attacker, and they made a valiant effort to tie the game.  The Stevenson goalie made several outstanding stops, and the Lions lost the exciting playoff game, 4-3.

January 23, 2010
Saint Viator HS vs. Highland Park HS (Metro North Conference)

Result: Win 5-2
Overall record: 25-8-4

The Saint Viator Lions JV hockey team continued their march to the Scholastic Cup playoffs with a 5-2 victory over the Highland Park team.  Patrick Gregory started the scoring with a backhander, assisted by Austin Ziakas and Scott Faul.  Then, Vincent Mastrodomenico scored unassisted to end the ffirst period.  Gregory started off the scoring in the second period with a breakaway goal, assisted by Ziakas and Ryan Santorsola.  Highland Park started to come back with two goals, but Mastrodomenico put an end to their comeback dreams with his second goal of the game, with a nice assist from Mike Haubner.  John Joyce finished the scoring for the Lions, with assists from Frank Avino and Pete Niro.  The goalie, Ryan Jamieson, was a wall for the Lions.

Also, Keegan Thornton and Joey Zanfardino stood out with their gritty fore-checking and work in the corners.  The Lions have 1 remaining Metro North league game and are currently in 1st place with a 1 point lead over Stevenson.

January 20, 2010
Saint Viator HS vs. New Trier HS (Metro North Conference)

Result: Win 2-1
Overall record: 24-8-4

The Saint Viator Lions defeated the first place New Trier HS JV hockey team 2-1 and moved into a tie for first place.  The game was hard fought.  The Lions goalie, Robert Schmidt, came up with several spectacular saves.  A lot of the credit goes to the defensemen, who shut down the vaunted New Trier offense.  The Lion defensemen are Jeremy O'Donnell, Jim Murphy, Ryan Santorsola, Austin Ziakas, and John Campanelli.  New Trier scored first in the game, so it was up to the Lions to come from behind.  Frank Avino tied the game when he slashed to the net, took a nice pass from John Joyce, and then beat the goalie with a quick wrister.  The game was tied until late in the third period when the Lions scored the game winner.  Campanelli found Patrick Gregory in front of the net with a nifty pass.  Gregory quickly fed Vincent Mastrodomenico who beat the goalie top shelf.  The crowd went wild, and the Lions went victorious and put them in first place with a 1 point lead over Stevenson.  There are 2 league games remaining prior to the playoffs.

January 16, 2010
Saint Viator HS vs. Glenbrook North HS (Metro North Conference)

Result: Win 2-1
Overall record: 23-8-4

The Saint Viator Lions defeated the GBN JV team, a team fighting for 6th place in Metro North. Missing a total of 8 players to the annual school ski trip made this game extremely challenging for the Lions.  With Robert Schmidt in net and a bench of 10 players - the Lions came out determined to play a good game.  Once again, a lot of the credit goes to the team's defensemen, who were stellar in front of Schmidt. The Lions scored first in the game, with a beautiful ticky-tack passing down the lane from Jack Gaffney to Kevin Young - and back to Gaffney to score.  The second goal was a nice power play with Joe Zanfardino crashing the net and burying a nice pass from Johnny Joyce.  Up 2-0 until late in the game, the Lions found themselves on the penalty kill and allowed GBNs only goal about half way through the third. The win put the Lions into a tie for first place once again with 2 league games remaining.

December, 28 2009 thru December 30, 2009
Windy City JV Tournament
Saint Viator HS vs. Prairie Ridge JV - Win 6-1
Saint Viator HS vs. Naperville Central JV - Win 4-2
Saint Viator HS vs. Chicago Bruins Midget Minor - Win 8-0
Saint Viator HS vs. Notre Dame JV Semi-Finals - Loss 3-2

Tournament

Overall record: 22-8-4

The Lions played in an all JV tournament over the holidays in Naperville.
The round robin games were all played well, with a tremendous amount of Defense in every game.  Allowing only 3 goals in 3 games, the Lions defense was stellar.  Ryan Jamieson in net was equally amazing, allowing few rebounds if any at all.  The Lions went into the semi-finals as the top seed and only needed a win to advance to the finals, but...  They struggled to get the offense going and ended up tied 2-2 with 0:52 left in the 3rd period.  Thinking they were going to overtime, they were caught making a bad line change and the Notre Dame defense sent the puck into the zone as a shot on net from the blue line.  Top shelf, the goal put the Notre Dame team up 3-2 and that ended up the final score.  The Lions played some terrific teams, had some great games and ended up going home to solidify their playoff place for both Metro North and the State HS tournament coming up.

December 19, 2009
Saint Viatorvs. Deerfield HS (Metro North Conference Game)

Result: Win 1-0
Overall record: 14-5-4

The Saint Viator Lions moved into a tie for second place with a 1-0 win over Deerfield High.  Ryan Jamieson dealt another shutout, and the Lions needed every one of his saves, as goals were hard to come by in this game.  The Lions took an uncharacteristically high amount of penalties in the game, and this caused thehigh-powered Lions offense to sputter.  In fact, the Lions were on a penalty kill well into the third period when Saint Viator finally scored to take the lead for good.  Jackson Owens did a great job pressuring Deerfield as they were trying to control the puck behind their own net.  He finally got possession and passed to Patrick Gregory streaking to the net.

Gregory quickly fired and beat the goaltender for the shortie.  Then, it was up Jamieson and the defense to make the goal stand up at the end of the game, when the Lions had another man in the box and Deerfield pulled their goalie for a 6-on-4 advantage.  The Lions' win put their Metro North at 10-2-3, and they are only two points behind the first place team.

December 16, 2009
Saint Viator vs. Rockford HS (Non-Conference Exhibition Game)

Result: Tie 2-2
Overall record: 13-5-4

In a MIT showdown, the Saint Viator Lions tied Rockford High by a 2-2 score.  Robert Schmidt kept the Lions in the game with 21 saves as the goalkeeper.  Scott Faul scored the first goal for the Lions when he out-hustled the Rockford defender for the puck and roofed a shot that the goalie never saw.  Mike Habner assisted on Faul's goal.  The Lions were trailing 2-1 late in the game when they went on the power play.

Vinnie Mastrodomenico worked hard in the corner, pried the puck away from the defender, and passed it over to Patrick Gregory stationed behind the net.  Gregory then fed Jackson Owens cutting to the net, and Owens buried his shot to tie the game.

December 12, 2009
Saint Viator vs. Warren HS (Metro North Conference)

Result: Win 6-1
Overall record: 13-5-3

Behind the stellar goalkeeping of Ryan Jamieson, the Lions thrashed Warren High School by a score of 6-1 in a game played at the palatial Rinkside Ice Arena, located in the world-renowned Gurnee Mills.  Mike Habner started off the scoring for the Lions, assisted by Keegan Thornton and Scott Faul.  Then, Jackson Owens started off his three point performance with a goal assisted by Ryan Santorsola and John Campanelli.  Then, Owens assisted on Patrick Gregory's goal to make the score 3-0.  Santorsola followed up with a nice goal with assists from Gregory and Owens.  Thornton made it 5-0 by hanging tough in front of the Warren net and jamming the puck home, with Austin Ziakas and Faul assisting.  Campanelli finished the Lions' scoring with an unassisted goal. 

The defensemen crew, including Charlie Harris, Jeremy O'Donnell, and Jim Murphy, did a great job controlling the physical Warren team around our goal.  The Lions' Metro North record improved to 7-2-3.

December 9, 2009
Saint Viator vs. Loyola Academy (Metro North Conference)

Result: Win 2-1
Overall record: 12-5-3

The Saint Viator JV hockey team moved into a tie for second place with a come-from-behind win over the conference leader, Loyola Academy.   Ryan Jamieson was stellar in net, allowing only one goal against the most potent offense in the Metro North Conference.  The Lions were held scoreless until midway into the third period when Ryan Santorsola tied the game on a nice feed from Vinnie Mastrodomenico.  John Campanelli also assisted on the goal.

Then, minutes later, Austin Ziakas scored the game winner with Jim Murphy assisting.  The defensemen accounted for both goals and two assists.  Together with Jeremy O’Donnell and Charlie Harris, the Lions defensemen shut down the high-powered Loyola team.  The Lions only allowed Loyola two shots on goal in the third period.  Saint Viator is only two points out of first place.

December 5, 2009
Saint Viator HS vs. Stevenson HS (Metro North Conference)

Result: Win 3-2
Overall record: 11-5-3

Behind the hat trick of Vinnie Mastrodomenico and the goal-tending of Robert Schmidt, the Saint Viator JV hockey team beat Stevenson HS 3-2. Mastrodomenico scored all three of his goals on exciting breakaways. Schmidt kept the Lions in the game with fantastic saves in the third period, when Stevenson stepped up the offensive pressure. Jackson Owens, Jim Murphy, and Ryan Santorsola each had an assist in the game. The win puts the fifth place Lions just one point from fourth place and only for points from first place.  Their Metro North Conference improved to 6-2-3.

December 2, 2009
Saint Viator vs. Evanston Township HS (Metro North Conference)

Result: Win 5-0
Current Team Record: 10-5-3

Goalie Ryan Jamieson shutout the Evanston Township High School, and the Saint Viator JV hockey team won by a score of 5-0.  The scoring was lead by Frank Avino with two goals and one assist.  Also scoring for the Lions were Patrick Gregory, Vinnie Mastrodomenico, and Pete Niro.  Other players with assists were Joey Zanfardino, Jeremy O'Donnell, Patrick Gregory, John Campanelli, Scott Faul, and Mike Haubner.  The Lions' record improved to 5-2-3 in the Metro North Conference.  The team is in fifth place but only four points behind the leader of this hotly contested conference.

October 17, 2009
Saint Viator vs. Evanston Township HS
Metro North Conference

Result: Tie + 2-2
Current Team Record: 0-1-1

The JV hockey team played extremely well considering they were missing their goalie and 6 teammates due to the Freshman retreat.  Pete Niro stepped into goal and made 18 amazing saves.  Austin Spahr scored a goal from the blue line and had a helper on Ryan Santorsola’s goal as well.  The JV team turned in a solid effort with a short bench and had a nice showing for their first home game.