In a clash worthy of its billing, Delbarton Hockey earned a hard-fought 2–1 victory over St. Joseph Regional Hockey on Tuesday afternoon at SportsCare Arena.

St. Joseph struck first in the opening period when Dante Mangarelli found the back of the net on a tough angle to give the Green Knights a 1–0 lead after one period. From there, the game turned into a tightly contested, playoff-style battle, with both teams trading chances and momentum.

Delbarton answered in the second period as Sean O'Gwen sent a wrist shot from inside the blue line over the glove of goalie Gabe Florio to knot the game at 1–1. The Green Wave carried that energy into the third, continuing to pressure the offensive zone.

The breakthrough came in the final frame when Egor Andreev scored the decisive goal on a wrap around from behind the net, finishing a well-worked sequence set up by Michael Pirot and Aidan Pasic to give Delbarton its first lead of the afternoon.

From there, the Green Wave defense locked things down, and goaltender Paul Insauto stood tall, stopping 20 of 21 shots to secure the statement win. His steady play late ensured Delbarton closed out the victory in a matchup that lived up to its #1 vs. #2 hype.

"Today we were super disciplined, we stood out of the penalty box and every night is a different challenge," said head coach Bruce Shatel after the game.  "We're not looking to win every game 5-3, we're looking to win games 2-1 like we did tonight. We have to play good defense and take advantage of the opportunities that we do get. It's a great opportunity for our guys to play competitive games each and every night. It's a grind, you've got to have some mental toughness, show up every day and put your best foot forward."

With the win, Delbarton improves to 10-1-3 on the season, taking the edge in the season series and reinforcing its position among New Jersey's elite as the postseason picture continues to take shape.  The Green Wave have 3 more regular season games before the Gordon Cup playoffs begin.