St. John’s broke open a close game late in the second period and defeated DeMatha, 5-2, at The Gardens Ice House in Laurel on Friday night. Goaltending was a hot commodity as both netminders made numerous quality saves to keep their teams in the hard-fought game. St. John’s Matt Grisius shined on offense with three goals and an assist for four points on the night.

After a scoreless first period, St. John’s Aidan Foster got the visitors on the board first with a power play goal 4:48 into the second period. Grisius picked up the lone assist. DeMatha captain Jeremy Wilson drew the Stags even with a power play goal of their own just under four minutes later. Dylan Hendrix and Jay Harwood assisted on the goal.

It appeared the teams would go to the locker rooms at the end of the second period tied, but Grisius scored with 11 seconds to go to put St. John’s up, 2-1. Power play goals by Grisius and Carter Johnson early in the third period extended the Cadets’ lead to 4-1, putting the game out of reach for DeMatha.

With four minutes remaining in the game, Foster scored his second of the game to get the Stags within two goals. But after DeMatha pulled its goalie for an extra attacker to get them within one, Grisius completed his hat trick with an empty net goal with 2:22 left in the game.

St. John’s goaltender Chase Hornbecker made 26 saves on 28 shots on goal, while DeMatha’s Dominic Sciorilli faced 27 shots and making 23 saves.