NEWARK − It may not be pretty, but offense wins championships too.
St. Augustine got hat tricks from Cameron DeLeo, Robert Romarino and Ty Simonet to beat Don Bosco 10-6 on Monday afternoon at Prudential Center to win the Non-Public state championship. In ice hockey. Just in case you were confused by the score.
“This sport is wild,” said Hermits coach Roman Ammirato, who has now guided his squad to back-to-back state titles. “Wild.”
This was the third meeting between the two Gordon Conference rivals. Don Bosco won the first two games, 7-2 and 3-1, but after a quiet first five minutes, the goal horn never stopped. It was the highest scoring game in New Jersey hockey finals history.
DeLeo scored the first goal after a turnover deep in the Ironmen’s zone at the 10:14 mark. Two minutes later, Don Bosco led 2-1. Two minutes after that, it was tied. Simonet scored on a rebound with 10.4 seconds left in the first period to make it 4-3 Hermits.
St. Augustine added two more goals in the second, but just when it seemed like the teams had settled down, Don Bosco rallied with two goals in the final 1:22 of the second period to pull to 6-5.
But the Hermits dominated the third period. DeLeo got his hat trick to make it 7-5 four minutes into the third period, and Romarino followed up at 4:50 left to seal it. The Hermits added two empty net goals for the final margin.
“It’s amazing, it truly is,” Ammirato said. “I don’t think I processed [what we did] last year to be honest with you. They stuck with the game plan and I just … it’s amazing what kids can do when they put their minds to it and buy into what we’re teaching.”
“We know that we might have less skill than most teams, but we’re going to outwork them, and that’s what we did,” Romarino said.
The Hermits were the Cinderella story of 2023, coming back to beat Delbarton in overtime in the state finals. This year, they edged the Green Wave in the semis, settling the stage for their offensive explosion Monday. They finished the season 15-5-1. Don Bosco won the Gordon Cup and finished 24-3-1.
“I think experience in a game like this goes a long way,” Ammirato said. “I know we don’t have any 30-, 40- or 50-point scorers, but you have to play as a team. I definitely think our experience helped, because it’s not easy playing in this big arena and you have 2,000 fans screaming their heads off. It’s no joke.”
For the Ironmen, they fall to 1-6 all-time in state championship games….
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