Delbarton tops St. Augustine to take '08 NJSIAA Non-Public title




newjerseydevils.com (March 22) – Delbarton has regained its crown.

The Green Wave built a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals by Mike Smigelski and pulled away to a 5-1 victory over the St. Augustine Prep Hermits in the 2008 Devils/NJSIAA Non-Public High School Ice Hockey Championship on Saturday.

It's the fourth state title for Delbarton, which avenged last year's semifinal loss to St. Augustine to take back the non-public championship title that it last won in 2006.

Smigelski later added an assist to round out a three-point afternoon, and Delbarton goaltender Michael Infante made 21 saves to backstop the Green Wave to a win in the first-ever NJSIAA championship game at Prudential Center.

Andy Bell, Mike Pirovano and Charles Nerbak also scored for Delbarton, while Zach Stern had the lone marker for St. Augustine.

Both Bell and Nerbak were named to the All-Tournament team, joining teammate Thad Williams, who had two assists on the day. St. Augustine's Dave Macalino also made the all-tourney group.

Smigelski needed 89 seconds for the Green Wave's first strike. His turnaround wrister from the right faceoff dot beat Hermits' netminder Justin Farrell at the 1:29 mark to make it 1-0.

Just over two minutes later, Smigelski potted his second on an off-wing wrist shot from outside the left circle with helpers from Kenny Agostino and Andy Bell at 3:11.

The Hermits responded on the power play when Stern got a stick on Macalino's point shot. The redirection snuck through Infante's pads at 8:22 to cut the Green Wave lead in half.

One of Farrell's 28 saves was a terrific stop late in the first on Agostino's breakaway. The Delbarton sophomore collected a turnover in the defensive zone, and ripped a shot from the slot that Farrell sticked away with 1:37 left in the frame.

Delbarton outshot St. Augustine 13-7 in the second, but ran into more of Farrell's sharp play when he made two stops to kill off a Green Wave power play.

Farrell blocked a bouncing backhander off the stick of Bell at 4:28, and later got his cage in the way of Charles Nerbak's rising shot from the right circle at 5:02.

Delbarton broke through for a 3-1 lead with 40.4 seconds left in the middle frame, with Smigelski again figuring into the Green Wave's surge. His slapper from the high slot was shrugged off by Farrell, but the rebound came to Bell, who swept a backhander into the back of the net.

Pirovano and Kenny Pilanski converted a Green Wave 2-on-1 to give Delbarton a 4-1 edge early in the third.

Pirovano dished cross-slot for a shot from Pilanski at the left circle, but Farrell slid to his right for an impressive denial at the goal line. The rebound was just out of reach, however, and Pirovano had the presence of mind to follow up and bury the Green Wave's fourth tally at 3:06.

Nerbak added a Delbarton goal at 10:28 to make it 5-1, and Pirovano missed a chance for his second when his penalty shot attempt at 12:17 clanked off the crossbar.