Christian Proot and his linemates lead River Dell/Westwood to win by Jim McConville of The Record
WAYNE – Coming into their second Pepsi Varsity Holiday classic game in less than 24 hours, the concern for River Dell’s hockey team was just how it would react to its first loss of the season.
The Golden Hawks didn’t have to wait long for the answer, and it was a positive one. Fueled by four first period goals, they put the their previous loss, 3-2 to Roxbury, behind them with a 9-2 win over Wayne Valley.
“To put it mildly, the kids were ticked off after last night,” RD coach Kevin Sabella said. “It was a very quiet bus ride home and when we got in the locker room today I knew we were ready to play.”
It took all of 1:47 for RD to get on the scoreboard. With the forwards crashing the net and the neutral zone forecheck keeping play out of the Hawk zone, Christian Proot opened the scoring down low.
Proot added a second goal at 13:11 of the first period from just off the crease, and that one seemed to loosen the flood gates, as River Dell (8-1) put home two more 15 seconds apart.
The Proot line got its third score of the game, this time from Joey Ragno on Proot and Vinny Ruff assists. Moments later, Eddie Dahdah had a path down the right side and scored at 14:37. That goal chased WV starting netminder Joe Sponenburg after the first period concluded.
“When we make quality passes and quality decisions in the offensive zone, good things happen for us,” Sabella said.
River Dell continued to show its speed, but it took nearly the whole period for another goal to be scored. The teams each netted one 23 seconds apart, with the Hawks getting the first one on a right side rush by Dahdah, his second.
“We didn’t want last night to send our season into a downward turn,” Ragno said. “We came in here looking to keep our season going up and prove that we are a good team.”
Wayne Valley (3-4-1) finally solved RD goaltender Matt Ajello on its 21st shot of the game. Gary Ragusa took a feed from Braden Ploehn just off the left post to score with 22 seconds left in the middle period.
Ruff got in on the act with his line’s fourth goal of the game, a power play score at 7:05 of the third period. It came after Wayne Valley had an 8-1 edge in shots in the opening five minutes of the period.
When Ragno deposited his second of the game at 8:19, each of the three linemates accomplished four-point nights. Dahdah would finish off a hat trick after Chris Taranto scored for Valley in a wide open end of the third period and Ruff’s last-minute power play goal gave him 2 goals and 3 assists in the game.
“We didn’t want them to dwell on last night, but we really wanted to see just how we were going to react,” Sabella said. “We told them, if you play with the effort you did against Roxbury every game, you’ll win a lot more than you will lose, and they were on a mission to prove that we are a team that still has a lot of good things ahead of it.”
PARAMUS CATHOLIC 2, WEST MILFORD 2 – Kyle Little’s second goal of the game, a power play score with 2:19 remaining, allowed the Highlanders to salvage a tie. The goal came off a pass down low from Dylan Dinzik and he stuffed it past the goalie.
Ryan Graham’s 5 on 3 power play had given the Paladins the lead. The tally came off assists from Austin Teats and Amanda Pietz and marked the first time since Paramus Catholic scored two goals in a game after scoring only four total in the last five.
Justin Sowinski opened the scoring for PC (1-5-3) in the first period at 11:24, but West Milford (4-4-1) got a second period power play goal from Little to even the game entering the final period.
Denis McGarry had 27 saves for Paramus Catholic and Nick Johannson stopped 36 shots for West Milford.