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www.insidehalton.com |OAKVILLE BEAVER |Thursday, December 21, 2017 |34 Kevin Nagel, O akville Beaver Sports Editor, knagel@burlingtonpost.com Sports "Connected to your Community " Mo. 3 By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff Holy Trinity's Stephen Szulc races a Christ the King opponent for the puck in Monday's Halton Catholic Athletic Association game. Holy Trinity scored four unanswered goals, three of them in the third period, in a 4-2 win as the Titans improved to 4-1. | Nikki Wesley/Metroland After Titans;' season-opening loss, defending Halton hockey cham ps are on a roll After winning back-to-back Halton high school hockey championships, the Holy Trinity Titans were dealt an early dose of re ality. Playing their first game in the new Halton Catholic Athletic Association (HCAA) league, the Titans jumped out to a 4-0 lead against St. Thomas Aquinas and led 6-4 heading into the third period. "Then they got a little greedy," said Titans coach Aaron Consoli. Not paying enough attention to defence, Holy Trinity surrendered four unanswered goals in the third period, snapping the team' s 27-game unbeaten streak (26-0-1) in league play. With the new Catholic league allowing rep players this season, Consoli said there is no opponent that can be taken lightly. "Everybody' s got guys that can put the puck in the net," he said. Having learned that lesson early on, Trini ty has bounced back with four straight wins, including their own third-period rally Mon day to beat the previously undefeated Christ the King Jaguars 4-2. Adam Tucci watched as the Titans won the league title last year. This year, with the HCAA allowing players to participate in both rep and high school hockey, he's enjoy ing being part of a Holy Trinity team that is looking to return to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations tournament. "Hopefully we can do it again this year," said Tucci, who also plays for the Oakville Rangers AAA midget rep team. "I see no rea son we shouldn't be able to." Tucci led the Titans' comeback against the Jaguars with three goals, the last two coming 37 seconds apart early in the third to give Trinity the lead. He then set up a late insur ance goal by Jack Tos to seal the victory. Although Tucci may be confident, Consoli knows it' s never easy getting out of Halton, even if the Titans have done it the past two years. "It' s always competitive," the Trinity coach said. "All the games are close and there have already been a few games that surprised me. ing from the team that was edged 5-4 in the OFSAA quarter-finals by the eventual cham pions. Consoli said last year' s junior team es sentially became this year' s senior team. Up front Robert Giunta, Cameron Rosborough and Jeff Rice are back from last year while three blueliners also return -- Nate Taylor, Matt Stone and David Gunner. Monday, the Titans fell behind 2-0 in the opening period but wasted little time getting on the board in the second. Stephen Szulc carried the puck behind the Jaguar net and sent a pass into the slot where Tucci fired a quick shot past the CtK goalie. Stone' s long lead pass sent Matt Fronzoi in on a breakaway, but he was denied. Trin ity continued to press, firing 14 shots at the Jaguar net in the period, but the equalizer would not come until a nice solo effort by Tucci in the third. He then gave the Titans the lead on the same shift when he banked the puck off the Jaguars' goalie from behind the net. At the other end, Luca Zovko blanked the Jaguars over the final two periods to preserve the win. Holy Trinity goalie Luka Zovko turns aside a Christ the King shot in Monday's Halton Catholic high school hockey game. Holy Trinity fell behind 2-0 in the first period but rallied for a 4-2 win. | Nikki Wesley/Metroland We should be competitive. I see us as one of the top three so we'll try to win as many as we can to set ourselves up for the best sce nario (in the playoffs)." Holy Trinity has just six players return