Ridgewood’s J.P. Kelly scores hat trick in win by Jim McConville special to The Record
HACKENSACK – Wins have been very hard to come by for Ridgewood, so when the calendar turned the page, so did the Maroons. With the New Year comes what they are hoping will be a rebirth.
The first step in a long journey back to the .500 mark came at the Ice House on Sunday, where they gave back two leads before making the third one stick in a 5-4 defeat of West Milford.
“We certainly can’t complain about any win, no matter how we get it,” Ridgewood coach Mike Lucchesi said. “We weren’t stellar by any stretch of the imagination, but we found a way.”
A big part of the Maroons’ second victory of the season was the resurgence of J.P. Kelly, a player who has been through the success of recent seasons but has struggled to find his own consistency this year.
Kelly notched a hat trick after having scored only once in the first 10 Ridgewood games. The senior believes that not only he but the whole team is ready to turn things around.
“We came into the new year with a lot more confidence,” he said. “You can sense it in the way we’ve gone about our practices. There’s a much better intensity; we don’t want to be the group that has that bad season that breaks the tradition of the program.”
After a scoreless first period, Ridgewood broke into the scoring column on a power play that carried over from the waning seconds of the opening period. A Kelly pass from the right circle found Tim Anzano behind a screen straight on goal and he went stick side high for the goal.
The Highlanders took advantage of their first power play at 2:07 of the second period. Kyle Little got a clear look from the left point and fired on past Maroon goalie Ben Rubenstein to tie it up.
West Milford made it 2 for 2 on the power play at 9:24 to go up a goal. Dylan Dinzik’s shot from just inside the blue line straight away was deflected in by Ryan Browne at the left post.
It only took 38 seconds for the Maroons (2-6-3) to bounce back, as Kelly tipped in the puck into the open left side after a Liam Seston pass skittered through the crease. Ridgewood then converted the fourth straight power play in the game to take the lead.
Ben Reinke found space in the right circle and moved toward the net. He passed to Sebastian Samuels making a back door rush and Samuels banked it in off of the goaltender.
The Maroons struck quickly in the third period, as Kelly scored unassisted 25 seconds in on a rush from the left side. He caught the goaltender thinking pass and buried it in the short hand side.
“That’s the kind of thing we need from him,” Lucchesi said of Kelly. “Hopefully this will get him going. We’re going to need this kind of game from him every time out.”
The two-goal lead did not last long, however, as the Highlanders got a goal at 2:19 off a Ridgewood defensive mistake. John Kulpanowski scored his first varsity goal for the Highlanders (5-8-1) from just off the right slot.
Dinzik then tied it up again on a fifth consecutive power play chance, this one a 5 on 3. Receiving a pass from Little out of the right circle, he took a shot straight on the found it way just under the crossbar at 6:10 of the third period.
The seesaw nature of the game continued, as Ridgewood took its third lead of the game at 8:47. Again it was Kelly alertly taking a pass at the right post and putting it in before WM goalie Nick Johansson could recover.
“That was a great play by Reinke,” Kelly said. “He came around and looked like he was going to wrap around, but he gave me a great backhand pass and all I had to do was touch it in.”