As has often been the case this year, the St. John’s Jesuit hockey team proved it’s not how you start but how you finish.  The Titan icers took an early loss but came back and won the Pittsburgh Tourney by beating host Mt. Lebanon 3-0 in the finals. 

SJJ got off to a good start on Friday night with a 6-2 victory over Lake Catholic.  Luc Gibb played solid in nets although lost his shutout in the third period.  The game got over a little before midnight on Friday and they needed to be back at the rink the next morning for an 8:30am game against host Mt. Lebanon.  Some early goals by Mt. Lebanon put the Titans down and they weren’t able to come back late in the game.  They did narrow the margin to 3-2 halfway through the third but a late open net goal sealed the victory for Mt. Lebanon 4-2. 

The Titan icers needed a victory over Meadville in the evening game to assure a rematch with Mt. Lebanon.  The varsity icers came out with a strong early effort to take a 3-0 lead in the first period before both teams took turns taking trips to the penalty box.  SJJ went 9 for 9 on the penalty kill and they kept pressure on Meadville when not killing penalties and took a 7-2 victory.  Kyle Knox was back in the lineup for the evening contest after missing the first two and led the goal parade with two of his own.  The victory put the Titans in the finals for their rematch. 

SJJ once again came out early with a strong effort to take an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Ray Morris.  They kept that pressure throughout the game and goals by Mark Stansfield and Chase Parsell made the final 3-0.  Steven Schmitt was impressive in net and made 19 saves to earn his second shutout of the year. 

This victory gave the Titans their fourth tournament championship of the year in six tries.  Congratulations for another well earned victory.