What's a St. John's Prep?

The BFA-St. Albans boys hockey team hosted St. John's Prep on Saturday in the final game of the annual Doc Tulip Holiday Classic. The Bobwhites lost, 4-2, but played well against a very quick and indivdually talented team. (My story from the weekend will appear in Monday's Messenger.)

 

St. John's Prep has played in the tournament for most of the 15-or-so years the Doc Tulip has been played.

That said, until I decided to do a little research on the school, I knew very little about it.

Here's five things you probably didn't know about St. John's Prep.

1. The school - which has almost 1.250 students - is located in Danvers, Mass. (near Boston) and is 102 years old. The team's mascot in the Eagles.

2. Brian Kelly, the new head coach of the Notre Dame football team, graduated from the school in 1979.

3. Bobby Carpenter, the first American-born player to enter the NHL directly out of high school, played for St. John's Prep. He was the No. 3 overall pick in the 1981 draft and went on to score 320 goals in an 18-year career.

4. Steve Langston, who graduated in 1997, is a member of Team USA's top two-man bobsled team that will compete in Vancouver this winter.

5. Former major league baseball player Paul Sorrento graduated from SJP in 1982. Sorrento had an 11-year career in which he posted a .257 batting average with 166 homers and 565 RBI. He also had the first-ever hit at Camden Yards, the first grand slam at Jacobs Field and he was the first DH in Tampa Bay Rays' history.