![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WZKPQHSGKNASFJIWVIOZ2FGZJA.jpg\")
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WTZF6F7OHNHNBBTO7PTICMLCNM.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSTATEN ISLAND, N.Y.\u2014 St. Joseph by-the-Sea continued its unbeaten-in-regulation start to the CHSHL A campaign (9-0-1) on Monday evening, earning a 7\u20135 victory over St. Peter\u2019s in a night that carried significance far beyond the scoreline.<\/p>\n
The matchup between the Vikings and the Lions served as the sixth annual Michael Manna Memorial Pancreatic Cancer Charity Hockey Game, held in honor of the Staten Island native who tragically passed away in 2023 after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. The game was renamed after Manna in 2024.<\/p>\n
Before and after the game, the lobby of the Staten Island Skating Pavilion \u2014 where Manna played a key role in its creation \u2014 was filled with raffles, including a 55-inch Smart TV and Islanders\u2013Rangers tickets, with all proceeds benefiting the Pancreatic Cancer Research Lab at Weill Cornell Medicine, adding a meaningful fundraising element to one of the Island\u2019s premier rivalries.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1\/87<\/p>\n
Staten Island HS hockey: St. Joseph by-the-Sea vs. St. Peters, on Monday Jan. 12, 2026<\/p>\n
Despite the narrow loss for the Eagles, St. Peter\u2019s head coach Ed Blackburn, a pancreatic cancer survivor, spoke about how much the annual game has meant to him over the years, noting, \u201cIt\u2019s important what happens on the ice because it\u2019s a league game, but to me, it\u2019s more important what happens out there in the lobby with the raffles and the raising money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy clinical trial that saved my life came out of a research lab. Research labs only go by funding and by research dollars, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re here for tonight,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
As for the game itself, Blackburn\u2019s squad \u2014 viewed as the underdog with a 4\u20134 league record entering the contest \u2014jumped out to 2\u20130 and 3\u20131 leads in the first and second periods, respectively, but Sea head coach Greg Perlman credited his team\u2019s mental toughness for grinding out the win.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys knew it wasn\u2019t going to be easy, and that we\u2019d have to keep pushing and pressing, and that\u2019s what they did. They didn\u2019t hang their heads; they kicked into another gear, which allowed us back into the game, and then we took it from there,\u201d Perlman said.<\/p>\n
After three straight Viking goals from Louis Arze (his second of the game), Leonard Velkin, and Eric Szebenyi gave Sea its first lead at 4\u20133, Perlman\u2019s club raised its physical intensity, delivering several bone-crunching hits and asserting themselves as the more imposing team for the remainder of the contest.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to do that with everyone \u2014 play clean hockey, not dirty, but play physical. It\u2019s a tactic, it\u2019s a strategy, and you have to wear teams down. They have good players, and they\u2019re fast, so if you don\u2019t do that, it could get ugly,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
The teams continued to trade blows, with the Vikings carrying a 5\u20134 lead into the third period before St. Peter\u2019s capitalized on a power-play opportunity to tie the game at 5\u20135 with just 4:19 remaining, creating the sense that the electric contest was headed for overtime \u2014 until Vincent Gulotta entered the picture.<\/p>\n
With just over three minutes remaining, the Vikings forced a turnover in the Eagles\u2019 zone, and Gulotta collected the puck before snapping home a perfectly placed wrist shot to reclaim a 6\u20135 lead, which stood the rest of the way as Sea later added an empty-net goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t say that it wasn\u2019t a little nerve wracking,\u201d Perlman said with a laugh when asked about the late-game drama.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese guys, they battled all night, so I was never really comfortable; but when Vin Gulotta, who\u2019s only a freshman, scored that goal, it felt like an overtime winning goal, and we\u2019re just lucky to have him,\u201d he went on.<\/p>\n
When asked who else stood out, Perlman highlighted Arze\u2019s two goals, calling him \u201ca key part of our offense,\u201d and also praised goaltender Justin Marzullo, who made 25 saves in the win, for \u201cplaying well in net and only giving up goals on good shots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the team\u2019s hot start, Perlman stressed that complacency can\u2019t set in, saying, \u201cI still think we need to play better. We\u2019ve got to keep going; 9-0-1 doesn\u2019t mean anything until the end of the year. We have to keep pushing and pressing hard. I\u2019ve told the boys to be confident, but not arrogant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lastly, Perlman expressed his gratitude to Blackburn and St. Peter\u2019s for letting his squad join in on the special event, saying, \u201cI am appreciative because for Coach Blackburn and St. Peter\u2019s, it\u2019s special, near and dear to his heart, and we are very fortunate to be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Staten](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/32HDH3W5VNGD5LAZB35GOQZ7GE.jpg\")
Staten Island HS hockey: St. Joseph by-the-Sea scores thrilling win over St. Peter\u2019s in cancer awareness game, on Monday Jan. 12, 2026, at SI Skating Pavilion. (Kara Buzga for the Advance\/SILive.com).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful evening, money being raised for a great cause like cancer research. We\u2019re lucky to be part of it; the importance of the game certainly falls short of the research and getting a cure,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n
Up next, the Vikings will look to retain their perfect regulation record when they take on Monsignor McClancy on Tuesday, while St. Peter\u2019s will aim to get back to .500 in their own matchup against McClancy on Jan. 23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.\u2014 St. Joseph by-the-Sea continued its unbeaten-in-regulation start to the CHSHL A campaign (9-0-1) on Monday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-98552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}