Boys MIAA rankings: St. John’s Prep bounces back with a big week

St. John's Prep had a tough first half of January. After beating St. Mary's Lynn, the Eagles lost to St. John's Shrewsbury, Catholic Memorial and Xaverian.

Head coach Kris Hanson's team, however, has recently turned a new leaf.

After beating Malden Catholic on Jan. 18, SJP is red hot. The Eagles took down BC High and followed that up with massive victories against then-No. 4 St. John's Shrewsbury and No. 1 Catholic Memorial over the last week.

SJP is regularly a Division 1 tournament favorite. It looks like it will be right back there again.

Elsewhere in the top 10, the first round of the Ed Burns Tournament had a big impact, creating something that's never happened before in these rankings.

Let's dive in.

1. Catholic Memorial (12-2-1)

Previous ranking: 1
Division 1
Head coach: Larry Rooney
Next game: at BC High, Jan. 31, 11 a.m. 

The Knights are coming off a 2-1 loss to then-No. 6 St. John's Prep on Wednesday night. CM outplayed SJP, but ran into a hot goalie (more on that in a minute). In the game before, CM trounced Malden Catholic, 10-0, with junior forwards Daniel Antonellis (Belmont, Mass.) and Jack McCourt (Milton, Mass.) each notching two goals and a helper. Even with the loss to St. John's Prep on Wednesday night, more things would need to happen to remove CM from the top spot.

READ MORE: Top boys prep performers from Jan. 21-27

2. Xaverian (13-2-0)

Previous ranking: 2
Division 1
Head coach: Dave Spinale
Next game: at St. John's Prep, Jan. 31, 2:50 p.m. 

The Hawks got two big Catholic Conference wins over BC High (3-1) and then-No. 4 St. John's Shrewsbury (4-3) over the last week. The big guns showed out against BC High with seniors Joe Von Handorf (Norwood, Mass.), Ryan Bello (Braintree, Mass.) and Daniel Gentile (Westwood, Mass.) finding the back of the net. Gentile came up huge in the win over SJS, sniping the winner with 1:15 to play in overtime. Senior Ryan Guevremont (Rockland, Mass.) also had two goals.

Great game at the Ice House tonight.
Dan Gentile buries the game winner for Xaverian with 1:14 left in Overtime. pic.twitter.com/MUoDJV3R83

— Jeff Lane (@jefflane90) January 29, 2026

3. St. John's Prep (8-3-2)

Previous ranking: 6
Division 1
Head coach: Kris Hanson
Next game: vs. Xaverian, Jan. 31, 2:50 p.m. 

The Eagles went through a gauntlet over the last week, beating St. John's Shrewsbury, 5-2, and taking down Catholic Memorial. The scoring came from everywhere in the win over the Pioneers, as senior forwards Brandon Ward (Melrose, Mass.) and Anthony Petruccelli (Lynnfield, Mass.), senior defenseman JR Goldstein (Lynnfield, Mass.), junior forward Timmy McColgan (Reading, Mass.) and junior defenseman Sefton Paradis (North Andover, Mass.) lit the lamp. Senior forward Luke Horenstein (Danvers, Mass.) and senior defenseman Brennan Waters (Lynnfield, Mass.) scored against the Knights, but the main story was sophomore goalie Jesse Bernardinelli (Wakefield, Mass.) making 34 saves.

4. Hingham (9-2-1)

Previous ranking: 3
Division 1
Head coach: Tony Messina
Next game: vs. Duxbury, Jan. 29, 4 p.m. 

Hingham falling one spot has nothing to do with the Harbormen and everything to do with St. John's Prep. The Harbormen only played once over the last week, taking down Milton, 3-1, in the first round of the Ed Burns tournament. Senior forward Quinn Allen and junior forward Brendan McCarthy scored, along with sophomore forward Nick Bigelow, whose goal came shorthanded. This week is a big one for Hingham, as it faces Duxbury, Pope Francis and Division 2 powerhouse Tewksbury.

READ MORE: Full schedule, results for the Ed Burns tournament

5. Arlington (10-3-0)

Previous ranking: 5
Division 1
Head coach: John Messuri
Next game: vs. Winchester, Jan. 31, 12:40 p.m. 

Arlington dominated this past week, beating Watertown/Wayland, 8-0, and taking down Chelmsford, 6-0, in the first round of the Ed Burns tournament. Against Chelmsford, senior forward Drew Beck showed up big with a goal and two assists. The Spy Ponders will be busy over the next week with matchups against Winchester and another Division 2 powerhouse, Canton.

6. St. John's Shrewsbury (8-6-0)

Previous ranking: 4
Division 1
Head coach: Michael Mead
Next game: vs. Malden Catholic, Jan. 31, 6 p.m. 

Since beating Malden Catholic on Jan. 14, the Pioneers have been sliding. With the losses to St. John's Prep and Xaverian this week, that makes it four straight defeats for Mead's team. But, given how the Pioneers did against Catholic Conference foes earlier in the season, they should be in a pretty good spot for the Div. 1 state tournament. The rest of the schedule isn't easy, but it's not as difficult as the last month: Malden Catholic, BC High, Archbishop Williams, Hingham, Andover and Lincoln-Sudbury.

7. Tewksbury (13-0-1)

Previous ranking: 9
Division 2
Head coach: Derek Doherty
Next game: at Arlington, Feb. 1, TBD 

While Tewksbury tied Acton-Boxboro, 3-3, on Saturday, it followed that up with a 7-3 win over Weymouth in the Ed Burns tournament and then crushed Newton South, 8-1. Not enough can be said about senior forward Tyler Bourgea. He posted two goals against A-B, six (yes, SIX) goals against Weymouth and then netted a hat trick and added a helper against Newton South. Dominant. Just so damn dominant. The game with Arlington on Sunday will be a big one.

READ MORE: 9 standouts, takeaways from Canton's win over Reading

8. Canton (13-1-0)

Previous ranking: NR
Division 2
Head coach: Brian Shuman
Next game: at Hingham, Feb. 2, TBD 

Canton had a statement week. It started when the Bulldogs took down King Philip, 3-2, and continued when they took down then-No. 8 Reading, 2-1, on Sunday at 7:30 a.m. On Wednesday night, Canton crushed Attleboro, 10-0. Sophomore forward Gavin O'Toole potted the winning goal to beat KP, while sophomore defenseman Kellen Labanara posted the eventual winner against Reading.

9. Pope Francis (7-4-3)

Previous ranking: 8
Division 1
Head coach: Brian Foley
Next game: vs. Shrewsbury, Jan. 29, 6:40 p.m. 

The Cardinals fell one spot this week after tying Archbishop Williams, 3-3, on Saturday. Cardinals junior forward Gabe Kolodjay netted two, but it wasn't enough to overcome Archies coming back from a 3-1 deficit in the third period. On Saturday, Foley's team has a chance to leap back up the rankings with a date at Hingham.

10. Reading (9-2-2)

Previous ranking: 8
Division 1
Head coach: Mark Doherty
Next game: at Belmont, Jan. 31, 3 p.m. 

Reading fell two spots after going 1-1-1 on the week. The Rockets beat Wilmington, 5-0, but then lost to Canton and tied Burlington, 2-2. Senior forward Jack Melly had both goals against Burlington, while junior forward Kamden Greatorex had the lone goal against Canton. In the win over Wilmington, junior forward Ethan Filipski lit the lamp twice, and senior defenseman Nate Vitarisi continued his torrid season with a goal and two assists.

READ MORE: What would boys prep hockey look like without juniors and NTDP?

Dropped out: Arlington Catholic (10)

In the hunt: Arlington Catholic, Burlington, Archbishop Williams, St. Mary's Lynn, BC High