Ridgewood hockey reverses fortune tops Ramapo by Jim McConville correspondent for The Record
It was coming; to a man the Ridgewood hockey team knew that their drought was about to end. They were playing good hockey against good teams, but that elusive first win stayed just out of their reach.
That is, until this past Sunday. The goose egg on the left side of the ledger is finally gone. With a 4-2 defeat of Ramapo at the Ice Vault, the Maroons are in the win column and feeling a lot better about themselves.
While the 1-4-3 overall record won’t show it, Ridgewood has played well against the top teams on the schedule. They had a 5-5 tie with Glen Rock, the first sign that things were turning around.
That was followed up with a 3-3 tie against unbeaten Indian Hills, the first blemish to the Braves’ perfect record. Both of those games were confidence builders as well as precursors to better things.
“We knew when we played a real good Glen Rock team and stayed with them that we were getting there,” forward Ryan Carius said. “We weren’t satisfied with the tie, and we knew we needed to get wins. We came into (last) weekend with that aim.”
Carius was part of the offensive resurgence, along with linemates J.P. Kelly and Ben Rienke. The trio had all four goals against Ramapo after coming together in the last two weeks.
Carius and Kelly started out together, but lost original linemate Tim Anzano to a shoulder injury on the first shift of the season opener. Kevin Brennan stepped on to the line but he, too, was felled by a shoulder injury. Enter Rienke.
“When Tim and Kevin went down, we felt a bit unbalanced,” Carius said. “He came on and his speed fit right in and I think we’ve felt the chemistry over the last three games.”
Head coach Mike Lucchesi took it one step further, saying, “we simply started to play better. There were games where we were up and found a way to give it up. Now, with that first line, we’re creating more scoring chances and it is translating into better results.”
Lucchesi also pointed out that the defensive effort has been on the upswing as well. The goals allowed would seem high to the naked eye, but there’s more to it than pure score.
“They’ve done a much better job of keeping us in games and giving us a chance to win.” He said. “We still are making some mistakes, and we’ve been shifting some guys around (most noticeably moving Liam Seston from forward to the backline), and you can see the level of play rising.”
The Ramapo game saw everything finally come together. The Maroons got a lead four minutes in when Carius was able to bounce a puck off of the Raider goaltender (“a bit of luck there,” he said) and he set Rienke up with a pass left to right across the crease that Rienke one-timed home.
Carius netted his second of the game to make it 3-0 after two periods, representing Ridgewood’s biggest lead of the season. Ramapo got one back off a turnover and a long shot, but the Maroons answered right back, defying adversity.
Rienke got his second of the game and Carius finished off a four-point night, making a late Ramapo goal off a deflection to as important.
“We just needed to get that first one,” Carius said. “We know we can play with the teams in our league and now we have to take this win and keep it rolling.”
Ben Rubenstein had 16 saves in his fourth straight start after Nate Loughlin started the first three games in goal. Lucchesi was not ready to anoint him the permanent starter, saying that, “right now I like the idea that they are competing for the job. They are making each other better.”
The Maroons have used December for its primary purpose, to figure out what kind of tram they are and what they need to do to be a contender come January and February. Now comes the time to begin the push for county and state tournament berths.