Wayne Hills’ Danny Reidel picked up another hat trick Friday night to lead the Pats to a 7-3 win over West Milford in a clash between two of Passaic County’s best. Where is Wayne Hills ranked in this week’s rankings? Find out below.
North Jersey Top 15
Includes games played through Jan. 2
1. Don Bosco (5-2-1)
The Ironmen have remained idle since their 3-1 loss to Morristown-Beard on Dec. 22, but things are about to pick up with games against CBA on Jan. 7 and Delbarton on Jan. 11. Hunter Garlasco (3 goals, 10 assists) and Chris Mazzella (9 goals, 3 assists) are currently Bosco’s leading scorers.
2. Ramsey (8-2)
After playing so well in their 3-0 win over Randolph — with two goals and an assist from Alex Whelan — to open its Ice Vault Tournament, the back-to-back 1-0 losses to Morristown and St. Joseph (Metuchen) to conclude the tournament were a major letdown from the Rams. The high-powered offense that had averaged 6.42 goals per game in its first seven games went over 102 minutes without finding a net — an issue that will be cause for concern once the Rams get deeper into the county and state tournaments. The loss to Morristown was very similar to that of the one Ramsey suffered last March in the Public B state final with the Rams manufacturing plenty of scoring opportunities (freshman goalie Evan Szary was outstanding), though unlike that matchup at the Prudential Center, Ramsey surrendered the lone goal in the first four minutes as opposed to the final 33 seconds. You could see the disappointment among the Ramsey players when the final buzzer sounded and Morristown stormed the ice as victors against the Rams for the second time in the same calendar year. There’s plenty of time to fix the offense against upper-echelon teams (though not many opportunities left) — but the questions will still surround the Rams until they find the net against quality competition. The silver lining to come out of this — in three Holiday Tournament games, Ramsey actually outscored its opponents, 3-2, and the defense anchored by Brandon O’Callahan, Chris Scott, Justin Nicholson and goalie Tyler Harmon is playing very well.Â
3. Glen Rock (6-1-2)
It was a bit of a mixed bag of results for Glen Rock at the Ice Vault Tournament, with Rock coming away with a 1-1-1 record. In the loss to St. Joseph (Met.), penalties and undisciplined hockey led to a 5-2 loss, raising similar concerns that plagued Glen Rock in some of last year’s losses. The Panthers responded after the loss in a big way, taking down defending Public A champion Morris Knolls, 2-1, with all the scoring occurring in the first period, including goals from Jake Kinney and Peter Cassidy. And in its Holiday Tournament finale, Rock jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead against Wayne Hills with goals from Kinney, Brandon Rosario and Peter Tatigian, but the Panthers relinquished that lead after surrendering three third-period goals to the Pats, including the equalizer with just four seconds remaining. “We’re a young team, and when things didn’t go our way we started chirping at the officials and let the game get the better of us,†Glen Rock coach Sergio Fernandez told fellow Ace Jim McConville. “That’s part of the maturation process and it is something we need to learn from.â€
4. Bergen Catholic (4-6)
The Crusaders have played four games since our last rankings came out and went 2-2 in that span, highlighted by an impressive 4-1 win over Chatham to open their two-game Ice Vault Tournament appearance. BC received solid goaltending from Sal Farruggia in the win (24 saves) and received goals from Luca Vanore, Bryan Hallenbeck and two from Evan Wisocky. Regardless of BC’s result in its upcoming game against Gloucester Catholic, the Crusaders’ quest to qualify for the Bergen County tournament will hinge on the outcome of others around North Jersey, specifically Mahwah (currently 5-6, playing Fair Lawn Sunday), Northern Highlands (currently 5-5-1, playing River Dell/Westwood Sunday) and River Dell/Westwood (currently 5-5 and play Passaic Valley and Highlands before the cutoff). BC needs Mahwah, Highlands OR River Dell/Westwood to finish under .500 to be eligible for the county tournament — a stipulation in the rules that needs change, because Bergen Catholic, regardless of its record, should be in the Bergen County tournament. I do think they’ll get in though, but the point is, they shouldn’t need help. For example: Imagine BC in any Big North Division and let’s see what their record is.
5. Wayne Hills (6-2-1)
I debated for a while whether to put Wayne Hills or St. Joseph in the No. 5 spot, but ultimately went with the Patriots because it’s time to start rewarding impressive performances and Wayne Hills has now beaten Morristown (before Morristown went out and shut out Ramsey) and tied No. 3 Glen Rock, 3-3, in the Vault tournament (and Rock was coming off a 2-1 win over Morris Knolls) behind three third-period goals — two from freshman Dean Hulbert and the exciting game-tying goal with 4.6 seconds left from Michael Brosnick. Wayne Hills is now 6-2-1 with a one-goal loss to Mahwah earlier this year (without Danny Reidel) and a 6-3 loss to Summit in a game that the Patriots appeared to actually outplay the Hilltoppers in every way except for on the scoreboard. They also just disposed of their top competition in Passaic County, West Milford, 7-3, on Friday night, rallying back from an early 2-0 deficit thanks two two goals from Zach Brogna and a hat trick from Reidel. After Lakeland tonight, Wayne Hills will have its first of two showdowns with Ramsey on Jan. 9. “It’s one game at a time with us,†Wayne Hills coach Angelo Serse said Friday night. “Ramsey’s going to play us just as hard as Lakeland does, or West Milford does, or Mahwah or any of the teams in our league. We all know each other, we’re all rivals and it doesn’t matter who is up next. We just have to keep playing our game. You look at tonight, maybe we had too much confidence, maybe were a little too cocky early on and, after that first period, I set them straight.â€
6. St. Joseph (8-2-1)
Since our last rankings, St. Joseph has gone 3-1, though fell to Nutley, 5-4, at the South Mountain Holiday Tournament (Nutley is 8-2). The Green Knights have since rattled off three straight wins against Pequannock, 8-1, St. Rose, 4-2 (Don Cuttone two goals), and Northern Highlands, 7-0 (Ryan Grieco 2 goals, 1 assist). They still have that 4-0 loss to Glen Rock on their resumè, however, in a game they failed to take advantage of numerous power plays. They’re expected to grab either a No. 4 or No. 5 seed in the Bergen County tournament seeding meeting this week.
7. Paramus Catholic (6-3-1)
It was a strange three-game Ice Vault Tournament for the Paladins that started hot with a solid 2-1 win over Kinnelon then sputtered in the next two with a 4-3 loss to Monsignor Farrell (NY) and another 4-3 loss to Roxbury. PC’s No. 1 goalie John Pitera got the day off against Monsignor Farrell, but the Paladins hurt themselves in the loss to Roxbury (4-5-1) by surrendering three power play goals, including the game-winner on a 4-on-3 with 12 seconds remaining. Through 10 games, the Paladins have only two standout performances on their resumè: the 1-1 tie on opening night against St. Joseph (which was somewhat erased by an 8-2 loss to the Knights the following week) and the 2-1 win over Kinnelon. The talent is there, evident by the 5-game winning streak PC went on from Dec. 7 to Dec. 22, but if the Paladins want to be considered contenders outside of the Big North Patriot, losses to sub-.500 public schools can not continue. Big test for Paramus Catholic when it takes on defending Public A champion Morris Knolls — a team with wins over Morristown-Beard and Bergen Catholic — tonight at the Ice Vault at 8:30.
8. Kinnelon (5-6)
After starting the week with a 2-1 loss to Paramus Catholic, Kinnelon picked up back-to-back important wins — in regards to earning a state tournament berth, by way of automatic qualification or an at-large bid — over Summit, 4-1, and Monsignor Farrell, 3-1. Ryan Less leads the Colts in goals, with 6, while Blake Hishmeh is the team’s leading points scorer with three goals and seven assists.
9. Pascack Valley (7-2-3)
Since suffering a 6-2 loss to St. Joseph on Dec. 19, Pascack Valley has gone unbeaten in its last six games, including perhaps most impressively, a 2-2 tie against Glen Rock. The Indians — right now firmly in the No. 3 spot in the Big North Freedom pecking order — also boosted the Freedom’s credibility with big wins over Liberty opponents, Mahwah and Ramapo, both 3-2 victories at the Ice Vault Tournament. They also capped their Vault tournament appearance with a 5-1 win over Monsignor Farrell. Pascack Valley has suffered just one loss to a New Jersey opponent this season and the upcoming schedule doesn’t appear very challenging, though as coach Ken DelSanto said, Pascack Valley is just taking it one game at a time. The tie against Glen Rock showed PV can play with just about anyone in Bergen County though, with strong goaltending from freshman Stephen Brennan and a balanced scoring attack that goes three lines deep and includes Chris Zariello, Trent Shanley, Matt Truglio and Nick Giordano. And a newspaper story on Pascack Valley is currently in the works, so stay tuned for that.
10. West Milford (7-5-1)
Since our last rankings, West Milford has gone 3-2, with wins over Lakeland (a 6-5 thriller), Mendham (a Public B semifinalist last year) and Northern Highlands (a monster game from Chris Dressler with 5 goals and 4 assists in a 10-3 win). One loss came against Montclair at the Montclair Invitational and Montclair is currently 9-1 and the Highlanders gave them their toughest game of the year, aside from Kinnelon — who beat Montclair, 3-0 — in a 2-0 loss. The disappointing loss came against Wayne Hills on Friday night, in a game that was billed as a potential Passaic County final preview, the Highlanders relinquished a 2-0 first-period lead and eventually lost, 7-3. Joey Fenui continued to impress though even in defeat Friday night, with the senior forward striking for a pair of goals, including a beautiful left-to-right gloveside snipe where he created space for himself using pure speed down the left side of the ice to create separation from his defender. Incredibly, Dressler and Fenui have accounted for 41 of 61 goals this year, as Dressler has 21, Fenui has 20 and no other Highlander has more than three.
11. Indian Hills (6-4-1)
It started with a 0-0 tie against Ramapo on Dec. 19 and the Braves have been on a roll ever since, rattling off five straight wins to play themselves right into the Bergen County tournament. Their Ice Vault Tournament schedule wasn’t daunting — Mount Olive, Park Regional (their best win) and Paramus/Lyndhurst/Hackensack — but due to their 2-1 win over Lakeland last night (game-tying goal from Liam Johnson in the second, game-winning goal from Matt Paiotti with 3:34 left in the third), the Braves are back in the rankings. With star goaltender Josh Welte and his 94.5 save percentage and 1.56 goals against average in net, Indian Hills could present a challenge for a higher-ranked Bergen County squad come tournament time. It took a few weeks, but first-year coach Anthony Tabbacchino has the Braves playing well at the start of January.
12. Lakeland (6-5-1)
Now on a two-game losing streak after its 2-1 loss to Indian Hills on Friday night, Lakeland is searching for offense with Wayne Hills (tonight) and Ramsey (Jan. 11) coming up in two of its next three games. Prior to their back-to-back losses to Montclair and Indian Hills, Lakeland did find the net 10 times in two wins over West Essex and Northern Highlands and a good performance against Wayne Hills tonight could restore the confidence than Lakeland had just a few weeks ago.
13. Ramapo (4-3-4)
The Raiders are becoming somewhat of a mystery team as the Bergen County tournament quickly approaches. They’ve only skated off the ice as losers three times (against Wayne Hills, Lakeland and Pascack Valley) and had a good showing at the Ice Vault Tournament with wins over Park Regional and Roxbury, but they relinquished a 3-1 lead (a hat trick for Dalton Graham) in the final eight minutes against two-win Wayne Valley last night in an eventual 3-3 tie — a game that coach Lee Barber said was “terrible [and] frustrating.â€
14. Mahwah (5-6)
After a 3-1 start — which included wins over the Passaic County triumvirate of Lakeland, Wayne Hills and West Milford — Mahwah is just 2-5 in its last seven games, as coach Kevin Sabella continues to deal with the highs and lows that come with such a young team. Tyler Gutierrez and Marty Kapoian continue to be the Thunderbirds’ top two scorers, each with double-digit goal totals though 11 games, and they’ll need production out of them both on Sunday, with Mahwah needing a win to qualify for the Bergen County tournament.
15. Northern Highlands (5-5-1)
By virtue of their 3-2 win over Fair Lawn on Dec. 26 to open their Montclair Invitational, the Highlanders grab the last spot in the rankings ahead of the Cutters, though the spot is on thin ice after Highlands has since gone on a three-game losing streak (losses to Lakeland, West Milford and St. Joseph) while being outscored, 20-3. At 5-5-1, Highlands needs a win or tie against River Dell/Westwood on Sunday to secure a spot in the Bergen County tournament.
The next five: Fair Lawn (7-5-1), River Dell/Westwood (5-5), Passaic Valley (4-6-1), Ridgewood (2-8-1), Clifton (4-5-2)