Stoneham's Nick Rolli is Three-Time Super 8 Champ

Nick Rolli knows a thing or two, or three, about winning. It is, after all, the only thing he’s done during his high school hockey career.

The Stoneham resident junior recently completed his third season with the Malden Catholic boys hockey team. And in each of those years, the Lancers have gone on to win the Division 1A championship.

MC’s most recent triumph came on March 17 at TD Garden when the team fell behind 1-0 in the first 14 seconds of the game before storming back for the next three goals. Rolli and his teammates held on for a 3-2 win that day over upstart Austin Prep.

“The key to the team’s success for winning three Super 8 titles is that we tend to peak at the end of the season, meaning we play our best hockey then,” said Rolli. “The first half of the season was tough because we had a lot of young and inexperienced players who had just joined the team. Once they built their confidence up and realized they could play at this level, they became more comfortable playing in certain situations in the game.”

Rolli’s leadership on the team hasn’t gone unnoticed. He’s seen significant ice time during each of his seasons with Malden Catholic, and this year he was chosen as the team’s assistant captain.

Despite winning the last three championships, Rolli said he and his teammates have not taken for granted just what it means to win on the TD Garden ice.

“The Super 8 title meant the work to me and my teammates,” said Rolli. “It is every high school player’s dream to win the Super 8. We worked hard all year trying to accomplish goals that we set out from day one of practice. And one of those goals is to win a Super 8 championship.”