Northern Valley earns first state bid since 2011 by Greg Tartaglia of The Record
ENGLEWOOD – Ryan Travers missed the net and scored the Northern Valley/Hasbrouck Heights hockey team’s goal of the season.
The junior forward netted a hat trick Friday evening at Mackay Ice Rink, helping the Golden Knights clinch their first state-tournament bid in six years, 4-1, over Pascack Valley/Hills.
All three of Travers’ goals were aided by his breakaway ability. The second provided some breathing room, as well as evidence that things were going to break the home team’s way.
On a back-check in the defensive zone, he collected a loose puck and skated in on a defender.
“I just thought, ‘Might as well use him as a screen to take a shot’,” Travers said. “[The shot] actually went behind the goalie, hit the end board, came back, hit his skate and went in.”
That gave Northern Valley/Hasbrouck Heights a 3-1 lead 1:53 to go in the second period.
With one game remaining before Monday’s state cutoff, the co-op program is 9-7-3 and assured of the .500-plus winning percentage needed for automatic qualification.
The Golden Knights, who were 2-18-5 last season, are on a three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1) that began with last Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Northern Highlands, No. 3 in The Record Top 15.
“Highlands was missing a couple kids, but they still had their top player [Joe Konvit], and he scored their one goal,” Northern Valley coach Don Quarles said. “My goalie had the game of his life.”
Quarles was referring to Jack Fitzgerald, who stopped 37 of 38 shots versus Northern Highlands. The junior made 11 saves Friday to bring his goals-against average over the past three games to 1.33.
Pascack Valley/Hills (5-15-1) struck first just 3:12 into the game. Senior Luke Ciocca scored his 12th goal of the season off an assist from Alex Sullivan while the Golden Knights were keyed on stopping 40-point scorer Trent Shanley.
“On the first goal, we kind of stepped up and got caught on him,” Fitzgerald said. “But basically, we were driving him wide and limiting his scoring opportunities throughout the game.”
Northern Valley/Hasbrouck Heights scored twice in a 50-second span early in the second period to take the lead. Travers took a pass from Jarred Cohen and went top-shelf on a breakaway at the 3:10 mark. Senior Jonathan Zeiri then put the team ahead for good off assists from Andrew Basin and Darren Katz.
Travers’ short-handed tally closed the scoring with 1:33 to play. Sean Murphy assisted on the final two goals.
“It’s our first winning season that I’ve been here for, so it’s pretty special to be in the state playoffs,” Travers said. “Especially knowing that we haven’t been there in half a decade.”
Pascack Valley/Hills goalie Stephen Brennan made 43 saves, more than half of which came in the final period, when the Golden Knights spent a majority of time in the offensive zone.
“That’s a strong goalie that PV has,” Quarles said. “We put 25 shots on him in the third period, and he stopped 24 of them.”
TENAFLY/CRESSKILL 4, WEST WINDSOR-PLAINSBORO 1: In a non-conference matchup, the Tigers scored twice in each of the final two periods to prevail.
Michael Ranaldi had a pair of goals, both off assists from Nic L’Heureux, and the same duo assisted on Julian Tallier’s power-play goal early in the third period.
Minwoo Song broke a 1-1 tie with one minute to go in the second. Kyle Picinic made 14 saves as Tenafly/Cresskill improved to 12-8-1.