Penalty kill lifts River Dell/Westwood by Greg Tartaglia of The Record
HACKENSACK — River Dell/Westwood and Clifton can point to their goaltenders as main reasons that they were undefeated going into Saturday evening’s Big North Patriot hockey clash at the Ice House.
The Golden Hawks also had their penalty-kill unit to thank following a 3-0 victory that boosted their record to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the division. They withstood a five-and-a-half minute Clifton power play, much of which was 5-on-3, spanning the second and third periods.
During that stretch, forward Eddie Dahdah scored a short-handed breakaway goal to put River Dell/Westwood up, 2-0, with 12:24 remaining.
“When you kill a penalty like that, it just gives you a ton of momentum,” said Dahdah, who added a pair of assists.
Golden Hawks goalie Matt Ajello made a pair of key stops in that stretch and finished with 15 saves in his first shutout of the season. That lowered his goals-against average to 0.67 and raised his save percentage to .967.
“Matt’s a great goalie,” Dahdah said. “He’s the rock of this team.”
Joey Ragno and Jed Morone also lit the lamp for River Dell/Westwood, which put 34 shots on goal against Clifton (2-1-1).
With his 31 saves, Mustangs goalie Tyler Gibson emerged with a .966 save percentage and 1.25 goals-against mark. The senior stopped 61 shots in a scoreless tie with Paramus Catholic to open the season and added a second shutout Friday night against Pascack Valley/Hills.
“He’s someone that not a lot of people know about, but he’s one of the better goalies I’ve seen, in Passaic and Bergen County,” River Dell/Westwood coach Kevin Sabella said of Gibson. “It takes a special goal to beat him. But I like our goalie, too.”
Ragno’s goal gave him six on the season. The first five came in an 8-1 non-conference win over Montville on Nov. 27.