It was night of firsts for St. Thomas Aquinas . . . most importantly the first win over SA in program history. And it couldn’t come at a better time. Paradigms die hard. It was so easy to look at SA’s great second half run this season and just assume that the program was back to it’s role and I maybe thought that a little too in my prediction. But there is another paradigm this year . . . STA is undefeated and has now beaten LHP, SA, Jupiter, Benjamin and Barron Collier twice. They are undefeated and #1 in not only the FLN Media Poll but also IL’s Southeast Regional Poll (full disclosure – I am one of the pollsters and have voted them number one every week).  And even then I would say most fans in the state have been thinking, okay, but. There are no ‘buts’ left fans. And tonight will be something to look forward to.     As for SA the one takeaway from last night is that they just played a poor game last night.  And STA played their normal game.  STA’s defense took away SA’s inside game, with a straight man-to-man and when they got shots off Michael Adler played All-American.  9 saves doesn’t sound like much but they were mostly off what good looks SA was able to get and many of them were spectacular.  SA committed 23 turnovers and many of them were missed passes.  Passes that connected for many weeks.  But STA’s team speed made what looked open a little less open when the pass got there. And there was also Alex Tumminello sending a message . . . that maybe the AA selections missed one.  Hard to argue that he doesn’t have a point after last night.  His last second goal at the half was a crusher . . . particularly coming after a Louie Yovino bomb 15 seconds earlier. Kind of like those guided missile film clips we see on the news . . . the one where two missiles enter the same building a short time apart, and the second one makes the bigger explosion. And SA really never recovered or really threatened in the second half. For SA the season was one of repairing a program and that was accomplished.  They are still pretty young and much of the key players come back next season.  But last night we kind of got a reminder that there is another team with Saint in its’ name that might just deserve a little more respect from the fans than thought.     JP Crowley opened the game for STA at 10:20 as he worked right GLE and found the crease area, finishing with the left hand while falling down.  Peter Dykas tied it at 4:15, taking Keith Mahler’s feed after Mahler beat the double team, and Dykas finished from the middle to the low right corner for 1-1 after the first period.  The teams combined for 13 turnovers in the quarter as both teams seemed a little tight after not playing for the past three years. But STA took the lead back at 9:03 as Tumminello face-dodged up the left wing before finding the low right corner with his shot.  Yovino followed up at 4:03 on a fast break as he went down the left alley to find the top right corner for 3-1.  SA was held to 6 shots total in the first half and after some possession changes the above mentioned two goal run made it 5-1 at the half and the STA sideline was in full believe mode. The third period started slowly on the scoreboard as both teams struggled to get good looks as both defenses stepped it up but with 4:56 left STA went up 6-1 as Crowley curled from the right towards the net and found a little space low.  Davis Diamond responded at 3:50 on a left alley dodge and his left hand found the top right corner but with 32 seconds left in the period Yovino took Crowley’s right GLE feed on right wing and Yovino stepped down and found the top left corner to make it 7-2 after three.     The ten goal fourth quarter was a little out of the pattern of the game.  STA pretty much put the nail in the coffin early as they converted two EMO’s in the first 2:07 of the fourth.  At 10:37 Tumminello took a Jimmy Harrington feed on the left wing and fired another rocket home and at 8:53 Harrington and Alec Cumella teamed up with Cumella finishing on the right crease for 9-2.  Owen Bezick got one back at 8:23 on Nick Iznaga’s feed as he cut down the middle but Tumminello responded from Kevin Crowley’s feed at 7:41 with his fourth, also a step down bomb.  Sammy Baker got that one back at 6:31 unassisted on EMO as he beat his defender from behind the net but Kevin Crowley worked the left wing and beat his defender at 5:36 to make it 11-4. SA’s Baker then scored off a Mahler feed with 3:31 left for 11-5 but that was the last stand and STA ran off the last three goals as Cumella, JP Crowley and Michael Costello all scored unassisted goals as SA tried to double to no avail.  And as the final seconds ran off the last vestige of disrespect for the Raider’s season dissipated in the cooling air as a long quest to reach the championship game, so many times having to go through their southern rival, lifted quietly among a celebrating crowd. Don’t miss tomorrow . . . For the SA seniors all the best to you as you go on to your life’s path.  One of the tougher things for me since I live in Boca and see so many SA games, is knowing that I won’t be seeing some of the parents I’ve gotten to know so well as often in the future.  I’ll settle for that and will keep an eye out to see how your kids do in the future! One more time . . . don’t miss tomorrow.  It should be something special.  One school looking to continue a modern dynasty and the other looking to complete one of the great season’s in this state’s history.  As well as a regional #1 ranking and a national ranking as well . . . Bring it on!     Team Statistics   Faceoffs:  SA 14 – 8 Shots:  STA 32 – SA 28 Shots on Goal:  STA 24 – SA 14 Turnovers:  SA 23 – STA 15 Penalties:  STA 7 – SA 3   Individual Statistics   STA Alex Tumminello  4G/1A JP Crowley  3G/1A Louie Yovino  3G Alec Cumella  2G Kevin Crowley  1G/1A Michael Costello  1G Jimmy Harrington  2A   SA Sammy Baker  2G Peter Dykas, Davis Diamond and Owen Bezick  1G each Keith Mahler  2A Nick Iznaga  1A   Michael Adler made 9 saves for STA and Harris Feldman made 10 saves for SA   Thanks to Coach Seaman and Coach Crowley for talking to me before and after the game