Wednesday, Jan. 22, Ice Vault Arena, Wayne—This game was a decade in the making. The (#3 seed) St. Joseph Regional High School Green Knights upset the (#1 seed) Don Bosco Prep Ironmen, 2-0, in the Bergen County Hockey Tournament Final. St. Joe’s dominated the first two periods, outshooting Bosco 27-10, but neither team could find the back of the net.
The deadlock persisted late into the third period until senior forward Ryan Beanland broke through. Taking a pass from fellow senior forward Kyle Kondratowicz, Beanland fired the puck past the Ironmen goalie with 5:31 left in regulation, giving the Green Knights a 1-0 lead. The goal was Beanland’s second of the season. St. Joe’s defense held strong, keeping the puck out of their zone and maintaining control of the game.
Don Bosco called a timeout with 1:04 remaining and pulled their goalie in a final push to equalize, but the effort fell short. St. Joe’s senior forward Logan Hughes sealed the victory with an empty-net goal at the 42.4-second mark, extending the lead to 2-0. It was Hughes’ 10th goal of the season, leading the team.
Coming into this game, the Green Knights had lost eight straight matchups against the Ironmen, with their last win dating back to Feb. 26, 2015, in the NJSIAA Non-Public Tournament Quarterfinals (5-2).
Don Bosco has been a fixture in the tournament finals, appearing every year since 2012 except for 2021, when the event was canceled due to COVID-19. This marks only Don Bosco’s third loss in the finals, with their other two defeats coming against Bergen Catholic in 2020 and 2024. St. Joe’s last appearance in the finals was in 2019, when they fell to the Ironmen, 5-1.
Green Knights head coach Matthew Juneau praised his team’s effort: “They’ve earned everything. They work hard in practice. We don’t care who scores—it just matters who has the most goals on the scoreboard at the end of the game. We defend first and score when we get the chance.”
The Green Knights are now 11-3 and riding a five-game winning streak, with their last four victories coming by shutout. Hughes, with his goal and assist, leads the team with 18 points and has scored in six consecutive games. Kondratowicz, with his assist, has also tallied points in six straight games. Junior goalie Gabe Florio continues to shine, recording 228 saves this season with a .927 save percentage. The Green Knights outshot Don Bosco 32-20 in this monumental win.
