PHILADELPHIA – The game Monday afternoon between St. Joseph’s Prep and La Salle College High School took on a special meaning besides a normal rivalry.
The game was the setting for a Salvatore DiNubile memorial. DiNubile, a Prep junior and hockey player, lost his life in a shooting this past October. The University of Pennsylvania Class of 1923 Arena was adorned with pictures and posters of Salvatore. All proceeds collected from the gate, food sales, 50/50 raffle and ongoing silent auction are going to the newly established Salvatore DiNubile scholarship fund.
Ceremonial Puck Drop SJP vs. La Salle
Both teams take a shot on goal...
“A lot of work goes into it. We wanted to try and make it as special as we could for Sal’s family,” said Hawk’s head coach, Dave Giacomin.
And special it was. Reverend John Swope, president of St. Joe’s Prep, was in attendance to deliver an opening prayer, as well as to help former Philadelphia Flyer Brian Boucher honor the DiNubile family during the ceremonial opening puck drop.
Emotions were high as the Hawk’s crowd was packed with family and students, all of whom had come to honor Sal and the impact he has left on the St. Joe’s Prep hockey family. All throughout the crowd, attendees were seen wearing sweatshirts detailed with Sal’s number 13 and his nickname “Tankie.”
The game itself may have seemed secondary, but from the onset it was a fast and hard-hitting affair.
St. Joe’s opened the scoring early at the 4:57 mark with a goal from Marc Colavita. La Salle's Shane Albert tied the score in the second period and the two squads seemed destined to enter the third deadlocked at one a piece.
As time expired in the second period, a timely strip from Conor Ryan and a slick pass to Colavita resulted in a goal and a 2-1 Hawk’s lead.
The third period continued the theme of smash mouth hockey. Both teams traded penalties and tensions began boiling over. Scrums in front soon took place, as the area around the nets began to be home to a mass of players. The game was tight up until the 14:27 mark when Ronan Egan converted a beautiful feed from Colavita to set the score at 3-1. Nicolas Ciampitti scored on an empty net to bring the score to its final at 4-1 in favor of St. Joe’s Prep.
Hawk’s captain Tyler Black said that his team’s emotions surrounding this game in memory of DiNublie helped attribute to their success.
“It helped us. It just drives us to win. This whole season, Sal’s been helping us,” said Black.
Prep senior Conor Ryan echoed Black’s statement.
“It was a big win, for Sal,” said Ryan.
SJP vs. La Salle - Photos by Matt Maratea
To make a donation to the Salvatore DiNubile Memorial Scholarship Fund click here.