Ice Hockey: Friday Night’s Big Winners

It was a busy Friday night around North Jersey with several teams picking up big wins for a variety of different reasons. The county tournaments are over, but now teams are positioning themselves for division cups and state tournament automatic bids, with the Feb. 10 cutoff quickly approaching.

Among Friday’s big winners included Glen Rock, Paramus Catholic, Don Bosco and its goalie Jarred Liscio, Ramapo, West Milford and Ramsey. And there’s a bit more about Ramsey’s mindset after its Bergen County final loss to Don Bosco. 

Glen Rock’s Matt Roy scored two third-period goals to lead ‘Rock past Randolph, 5-2, on Friday.

1. Glen Rock
In its first game since being eliminated from the Bergen County tournament by Ramsey in the semifinals, Glen Rock sent a message to the state Friday night with a 5-2 win over Randolph. Tied at 2 after two periods, Matt Roy struck 29 seconds into the third for the go-ahead score, then tacked another one on with 12:03 remaining. Glen Rock took a 2-0 lead in the first after goals from Peter Tatigian and Mike Buckel, but Randolph responded with a goal late in the first from Noah Leinwand and tied it up early in the second on a goal from Dan Jason. Glen Rock was outshot, 37-18, but ‘Rock goalie Matt Rosario was up to the challenge, making 35 saves in the winning effort. Tatigian would cap the scoring with an empty-net goal with 52 seconds to go, and Buckel and Brandon Rosario each supplied a pair of assists. It was a statement win for Glen Rock (15-2), who certainly have to be considered contenders in the Public B state tournament in a few weeks.

Paramus Catholic’s John Pitera made 29 saves Friday night to earn the 1-0 shutout victory over St. Joseph.

2. Paramus Catholic
In an interesting Big North crossover game against St. Joseph Friday night, the Paladins’ defense and goalie John Pitera (29 saves) pitched a shutout for a big 1-0 win against a Non-Public rival. As PC coach Keith Bland told Jim McConville, the consistency hasn’t been there for portions of the year, but when Paramus Catholic is on, it has proven it can play with some of the top teams around. Brian D’Erario would score the lone goal of the game in the first period, capitalizing on a shorthanded breakaway to get one past SJR goalie Phil Babb. Despite being outshot, 29-24, Paramus Catholic picked up a big win against a quality opponent in St. Joseph.

Don Bosco’s Jarred Liscio became the program’s all-time winningest goalie Friday night in a 2-1 win over Suffern (NY).

3. Jarred Liscio, Don Bosco senior goalie
Don Bosco picked up another big win against a quality opponent in Suffern on a night when the Ironmen were honoring U.S. Army Major Thomas E. Kennedy, a former player who died while serving his country. Goalie Jarred Liscio made 18 saves on 19 shots in the 2-1 win and became Don Bosco’s all-time winningest goaltender with his 62nd career victory. ”The records and honors are nice and all,” Liscio told me earlier this season. ”But I know this is a team sport and without the guys I have in front of me, there’s no way I’d be in the position that I am. I’d trade all the records away to see our team go as far as we can.” It’s an incredible achievement for Liscio and a record that’s going to be extremely tough to beat (the old one lasted 30 years), especially considering Liscio and Bosco have another few weeks to go this season to add to the record. You need to contribute all four years of high school, be on winning teams, stay healthy and, obviously, have enough talent to win over 60 games in net. Congratulations to him.

Ramapo’s Sean Soderlund scored his second game-winning third-period goal against rival Indian Hills Friday night in the Raiders’ 3-2 win.

4. Ramapo
I wish Ramapo and Indian Hills played every week because both times this season, these two rival schools have played intense, down-to-the-wire games with capacity crowds on hand. And, ironically enough, Ramapo’s Sean Soderlund has scored the game-winning goal late in the third period of both of them, becoming somewhat of a Braves killer. The Raiders have been quiet lately after failing to qualify for the Bergen County tournament, not having played in nearly two weeks. They got off to a rather slow start Friday night, surrendering a pair of goals to Indian Hills’ Alex Linquito and Dillon O’Brien in the opening five minutes of the game. But Ramapo battled back to tie it at 2 with a pair of second-period goals from Stephen Schwab — the first assisted by Sean Johnson, the second assisted by Maxx Trabbatoni. And then it was Soderlund — who provided the game-winner to beat the Braves with 40 seconds left back on Dec. 20 — striking for the game-winner early in the third period off an assist from Johnson. That same combination hooked up for the Dec. 20 game-winner, too. At 7-7-1, Ramapo is hovering on the bubble of the state tournament. Its remaining schedule before the Feb. 10 state cutoff includes Ramsey, West Milford, Wayne Hills and DePaul. Two wins and the Raiders will automatically qualify.

West Milford’s Chris Dressler got the Highlanders off to quick start Friday night with a goal in the opening minute. West Milford would go on to defeat Lakeland, 4-3.

5. West Milford
Sitting at 1-6-1 after a Jan. 1 loss to Ramsey, West Milford’s state tournament hopes were fading fast. After Friday night’s come-from-behind 4-3 win over Lakeland, the Highlanders sit at 8-7-2 and appear destined for that state tournament automatic bid with five games to go before the Feb. 10 cutoff. West Milford remained one of the hottest teams in North Jersey, improving to 7-1-1 in its last nine games, getting some production from some unlikely sources Friday night like Mark Crevina and Paul Roth, who both scored. Highlanders coach Dan Frey said his young team is continuing to mature and playing with some swagger and confidence now. Two wins in their remaining five regular season games — against Wayne Valley, Ramapo, Mahwah, Jefferson and DePaul — will earn them that automatic bid to the state tournament, just two years removed from a 5-19-1 season.

Ramsey’s Nick Botta (right) had a career night on Friday against Wayne Hills, erupting for a career-high our goals and one assists in the Rams’ 7-2 victory.

6. Ramsey
It had all the makings of a letdown game for Ramsey, one night after playing a hard-fought, physical game against Don Bosco in a BCT final loss. Coach Bob Toy wasn’t sure if his team would be emotionally, and physically, ready to go 24 hours later. Well, they were ready… playing one of their best games of the year in a dominant 7-2 win Wayne Hills, fueled by Nick Botta’s career-high four-goal, one-assist performance and Connor DiTomaso’s four assists. “It was an emotional game last night [vs. Bosco],” Toy said. “It was the toughest game we’ve played all year. Bosco is that good and I still think their the best in the state. It was a quiet bus ride back home and I wasn’t sure how they’d respond tonight.”

It was a game with major Big North Green title implications, as the Ramsey win put them five points ahead now of Wayne Hills, while a loss would have made it a one-point race with four games to go. “It’d be anybody’s ball game at that point,” Toy said. “But the bus ride coming here, the kids seemed relaxed and dialed back in. They put Bosco behind them and went back to work.”

Speaking of the Bosco loss, Toy thought Ramsey was right there with them but took no moral victories from it. “We lost,” he said. “It was billed as the Battle of Ramsey, and we lost. They beat us fair and square. But now we go our separate ways. They have their track, we have our track. Like I said to our guys, we still have things to accomplish, and I told them I thought they represented themselves well last night against Bosco. I wanted them to learn from it. We have got to play a complete game. We didn’t play 45 minutes, we played about 41 minutes.”

“Playing a full 45 minutes,” Botta said, “will win us a state championship.”