ARLINGTON — Arlington boys hockey head coach John Messuri can name every single coach he had throughout his illustrious playing career.

With the lessons he took from all of them, he’s now the sport’s newest member of the 400-win club.

The Spy Ponders used a fast start Saturday afternoon at Ed Burns Arena to overpower Wakefield, 7-0, in Middlesex League play, delivering Messuri, 58, the milestone win in the rink named after his own legendary high school coach.

Cam Petrillo’s hat trick in the first period played a crucial part. Sophomore star JP Messuri, the coach’s son, assisted on two of those goals.

John Messuri, with long stints at Winchester and Arlington, was surrounded by dozens of people he said all helped him get here, and win his 400th in front of a slew of former players.

“It means everything,” he said. “Guys I played for, I’m just trying to keep going what they had going. … I played for so many great coaches. I was just paying attention and listening to them. Really, that’s what it is, you’re influenced by what you’ve been around. You don’t invent this.

“I know all my coaches because I remember all the stuff they told me,” he said. “I’ve had so many good guys coaching with me (too). The one thing about me when I coach, is as much as I’ll tell you how it is, I’m a sponge for information. I still am.”

It was just six years ago that John Messuri reached win No. 300, with his other son Anthony Messuri scoring the game-winner.

JP Messuri’s two assists and standout play served another meaningful role to help their father join an exclusive club.

“It’s obviously super special,” JP Messuri said. “He’s been coaching Arlington for a really long time. I’ve been skating with them since I was a little kid, coming to all the practices, coming to all the games. I was on the bench when I was a kid. My brother was a part of 300, to watch that was special. Now, 400 is really cool.”

“It’s awesome, family is everything,” John Messuri said. “I grew up in a really good hockey family. My dad was a great hockey guy. I am the youngest boy of four. … And I’ll tell you right now, I couldn’t ask for a better wife to put up will all this stuff. She’s the best.”

With John Messuri behind the bench, Winchester surged from one of the worst teams in the state to two Div. 1 state titles in the late 90s. Arlington had a similar climb, as the last public school to win the Super Eight outright (2017), and was co-champion in 2020. Messuri is 400-146-59 as a head coach.

Topping Wakefield to kick off this campaign is a good start to another promising year with title aspirations.

“It was a great start,” the coach said. “But like I told them in the locker room, we’re not here for wins. We’re here to try to win championships.”

The Spy Ponders needed just over a minute to get on the board, with Petrillo burying assists from Armen Vartanian and Bobby Nigro. JP Messuri connected with him for a 2-0 lead three minutes later, and then again for a four-goal lead after Dylan Dinucci potted a goal.

Arlington followed with goals from Quinlan McNulty-Lu, Evan Sparks and Drew Beck in the second period. It finished with a 27-6 shots-on-goal advantage.

Nolan Russell also had a pair of assists.

“We started really fast,” said JP Messuri. “We were in our forecheck right away, hemming them in the zone, creating turnovers, which results in goals. Our neutral zone was really good. … It gives us confidence. But we won that game, we’re already onto the next.”