Northern Highlands skates to first state hockey championship at The Rock by Greg Tartaglia of The Record

NEWARK – Joe Konvit felt the agony and thrill of victory.

The Northern Highlands captain played the entirety of the Public B state hockey tournament with a torn ligament in his left knee. Midway through the second period of Monday’s title game against Randolph at Prudential Center, he collided with a Rams player and crumpled to the ice.

“His knee hit my knee, and it felt even worse than the first time it got hit back in January,” said Konvit, who had one other thought as he was helped back to the bench.

“Play now, and worry about it later.”

His worries were delayed further when the final horn sounded on second-seeded Northern Highlands’ 1-0 win over No. 1 Randolph.

The Highlanders (22-5-1) took their time to soak in the atmosphere as they skated the first state-championship trophy in the program’s 19 seasons of varsity play.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” Konvit said afterward. “I’m so proud of everybody, of how we were able to overcome adversity and earn what we deserve. It’s been a long time, and we finally won it.”

The “long time” easily could have referred to the final 40 minutes of play, too.

Third-line center Cormac Cindrich scored his eighth goal of the season off an assist from fellow sophomore Aidan Connolly at the 5:08 mark of the first period – which ended a 140-minute shutout streak by Randolph (22-2-3) in the tournament.

“There were some shaky moments throughout that game,” Cindrich said, “but we were able to find a way to get it done.”

Goalie John Werber, a club player who decided to join the Highlanders a month into the season, stopped all 19 shots he faced. Randolph net-minder Scott Kimiecik faced just 16, as both defenses consistently blocked shots and disrupted passing lanes.

“We did beat them at their own game,” Northern Highlands coach Jason Beswick said. “We knew what they were going to do, and quite honestly… Cormac Cindrich probably played all of two minutes the whole game, but got the key goal.”

The Highlanders are the third straight Bergen County team to capture the Public B title. Glen Rock won it a year ago at Mennen Arena, and in 2015, Ramsey took it home from The Rock under Dean Portas, who is now an assistant coach with Northern Highlands.

“We had a strategy in place thanks to hours and hours of endless video by coach Portas and the rest of my staff,” Beswick said. “They broke it down perfectly, [the way] no other coaching staff could do.”

As he did throughout tournament, the head coach also emphasized his team’s resiliency, starting with the captain, Konvit.

After the knee contact, “I thought he was out,” Beswick said. “I’m not even sure if he wore his knee brace in the third period, but he basically said he was playing no matter what.

“He basically symbolizes Northern Highlands hockey, for sure.”

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The same could be said of junior James Cerepak, who returned from a fractured femur to score 17 points in the final 12 games of the season. Senior Jin Lee found a way to balance varsity hockey and commitments to his club team in North Haven, Conn. and had 32 points over the final 23 contests.

“This is only our fourth game that we had everybody at full strength,” Beswick said. “And we needed everybody in a game like this against Randolph… it was truly a team effort, up and down the lineup.”

“We had everyone for the playoffs,” Cerepak said, “so everything came together at the right time.”