By Larry Moko
Bishop Tonnos Catholic Secondary School student Jacob Ceranic continues to impress as a hockey goaltender.
The Ancaster resident’s latest outstanding performance came Tuesday at Quad Pad Arena when he helped the Tonnos Titans to a 3-1 victory over the St. Mary Crusaders in Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic junior high school round-robin hockey action.
“Jacob played an amazing game,” Titans coach Alyssa Berardocco said.
Five teams – Tonnos, St. Thomas More, St. Mary, Bishop Ryan and St. John Henry Newman -- are vying for the four playoff spots with semifinals scheduled for Monday and the final on Tuesday.
Ceranic, a Grade 10 student, impressed a much larger audience about three weeks ago, however. That’s when, as a member of the Oakville Rangers U16 AAA team, he shut out the Vaughan Kings, 1-0, in the OHL Cup championship game.
The provincial minor hockey showcase tournament was held at Toronto’s Mattamy Athletic Centre and 6-foot 150-pound Ceranic blocked 25 shots in the final. He was named Rangers’ Zephyr Player of the Game.
Overall during his four starts at the Cup, he was selected to the all-star team, compiling a 3-1 record with a 1.97 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage.
A couple of weeks later, Ceranic was chosen in the 10th round of the OHL Priority Selection (198th overall) by the North Bay Battalion.
“I wish we could have won the game today, but their goalie played really well,” Crusaders coach Jason Kokoski said.
St. Mary grabbed the early lead when Caden Okis spun around in the slot and fired a wrister into the net.
But before the end of the opening period, Jackson Lloyd tied the score. His backhand shot was partially stopped before, in slow motion, it slid along the ice through goaltender Cameron Gemin’s legs.
Lloyd then notched what proved to be the winner in the second period -- moments after his breakaway deke got turned aside by the Crusaders netminder.
The insurance marker in the third was a screened wrist shot from just inside the blueline by Alex Manzone.
Ben Masotti set up both of Lloyd’s goals.
“I’m really happy with the way we played,” Berardocco said. “It was the first game we’ve been in synch. The players are getting comfortable with each other.”
The Tonnos coach said Masotti and Lloyd produced a lot of offence last year, too, when they skated on the same high school junior line.
Ceranic has played both varsity and junior for Tonnos in each of the last two years.
“It’s a real fun experience for the kids,” Kokoski said of the non-contact, fast-skating product which is in its third year of operation. At least three females are also on the rosters this year.
Any player in Grade 9 or 10 is eligible.
Unlike senior Hamilton Catholic high school hockey where games are all played at different arenas, junior contests are held exclusively at Hamilton Quad Pad.
“Each day we have two games going side-by-side at the same time so the parents can go back and forth between the two,”
Kokoski said. “The kids all know each other. They socialize with friends from other schools. It’s been great.”
The other game Tuesday saw the Bishop Ryan Celtics improve to 3-0 with a 4-1 victory over the St. Thomas More Knights.
More took top honours last year after Tonnos won the trophy two years ago.
Photos by Bob Butrym, RFB Sport Photography
More photos on the HWCDSB Athletics Facebook page here