Thomas Padilla `28

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This season the Strake Jesuit Varsity Hockey Team finished first overall in their South Division regular season and capped it off with winning the ISHL (Interscholastic Hockey League) playoffs. The team was led by captains Jonathan Mathews ’26 and David Rheaume ’26 and co-captains Thomas Jackson ’27 and Luke Depue ’27–all great leaders and clutch players. 

Indeed, in the regular season, Jonathan Mathews had 28 goals and 23 assists for a total of 51 points to help the team secure the number one seed for the playoffs. 

“This was my best season for Strake Jesuit,” Jonathan said. “My favorite memory this season was winning the championship and going out to eat at Shake Shack with my teammates to celebrate.”

Jesuit finished the regular season 15-2-3, the best record in Houston hockey this year. A key component of that success was the performance of Luke Depue, who topped our team’s leaderboard this season, producing 61 points from 21 goals and 40 assists in 19 games. 

“Playoff weekend is my favorite memory of the season,” Luke said. “Everything we had worked on during the season was coming together. Everyone knew their role, and we had spent so much time the whole year creating a strong bond.” 

One of the team’s starting defensemen, David Rheaume scored 10 goals and had 10 assists. In addition, David never feared to employ body contact to his advantage, discouraging opposing players from going one-on-one with him. 

Throughout his SJ career, David has juggled school work, baseball, and hockey successfully to contribute impressively to both teams. 

Strong leadership does not have to come from getting the most points or being the loudest on the ice; it can also be produced off the ice or on the bench in between shifts. Thomas Jackson offered a great example this season, an eager mentor for the underclassmen. 

Thomas embraced being a captain by making sure he could help the team in any way possible. Anyone who made a mistake Thomas counseled to success. He was also the first one to congratulate someone for his victories. Thomas finished the season with 4 goals and 9 assists, helping to propel the team to success. 

Success, indeed. This season Jesuit dominated in the playoffs, outscoring opponents 17-2. 

“My favorite memory this season would be beating Memorial West in the first round of the playoffs,” Thomas Jackson said. 

Strake Jesuit handled Memorial easily with the first goal coming from Christopher Odell ’29, followed by another from sophomore Tommy Padilla, whose 1 goal and 2 assists put Memorial in a hole they could not get out of. Nikolai Saratovtsev ’27 was a wall in the goal, stopping every shot that came at him as Jesuit shut out Memorial 7-0.

The next challenge for Jesuit was facing PFC (Pearland/Friendswood Club), a team that had given Jesuit problems in their last few encounters, but Jesuit beat them 6-3 and 6-1. The playoffs were no different as Jesuit defeated them 4-1. 

“PFC was the hardest game of the playoffs, and I was overjoyed to have beaten them,” Tommy said. “Emotions were high. Everyone was putting his body on the line to win this game.” 

In the championship game on March 8, Jesuit faced the College Station Thunder, who had topped the Crusaders 2-0 in the regular season. 

“Coming into the game, the team was feeling anxious to win, especially the seniors who knew it was their last chance,” Jonathan said. 

Thanks to some inspiring pre-game speeches from captain David Rheaume, Jesuit came out fast, scoring a goal just minutes into the game. But College Station was not going down without a fight as they answered quickly to tie up the game. 

“My favorite memory was scoring in the championship game,” David Rheaume said, a goal that sealed College Station’s fate as Jesuit never looked back and won the game 6-1. 

Next season watch out for the Jesuit Hockey team as the season starts up again in August. Games are usually on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday nights at the Sugar Land ice skating arena. To find more information please contact our Head Coach, Mr. Jeff Kipp at jkipp@strakejesuit.org. See you next season, Crusaders!