by Chris Lemmo

It’s a time honored tradition at Prep to beat Landon at all sports and Friday night was no exception. In front of an electric, standing room only crowd, Goaltender Will Boggs and the Hoya defense stood tall in a 4-2 victory over Landon. Heading into the game there was never a sense among the players in the locker room of being the underdog, even though they were going up against the defending MAPHL champs and had not won against their rivals in many years. The Hoyas dominated the opening period from the drop of the puck with an early goal by freshman Peter Roche assisted by Alex Ratliff. Just over a minute later the Hoyas would strike again on a power play goal by Daniel Cole assisted by Alex Ratliff and Tom Olson. After one period of play the Hoyas were up 2-0 and outshot the Bears 12-1. It was the most dominant performance from this team all year. After the Bears found the back of the net early in the 2nd period Tom Olson answered right back with a goal assisted by Senior Captain MacDowell Johnston and James Flannery. After two periods of play the Hoyas went back to the locker room and knew what was a stake in the next period of play. An early Landon goal to cut the lead to 3-2 set up what became one of the wildest and most exciting periods of Prep hockey in quite some time. Both teams had several power plays and scoring opportunities but the staunch Prep defense was able to keep the puck out of the net. Finally, late in the third period Landon pulled their goalie out of desperation and Tom Olsen casually tucked a shot in the back pocket of the Landon net sending the bench and student section into a frenzy. The players celebrated right along the student section in a game for the ages. Hoya Saxa!