Cerepak’s OT winner lifts Highlands to Bergen semis by Jim McConville special to The Record
WAYNE – As a team, Northern Highlands has been struggling to find offensive consistency. The Highlanders and the back of the net have been like oil and water. Leading the way among the frustrated forwards has been James Cerepak.
The sophomore was scoreless through the first 11 games of the season, but he picked a most opportune time to get that first one. His goal at 10:21 of overtime sent No. 4 seed Northern Highlands to a 3-2 win over No. 5 St. Joseph and a spot in the Bergen County tournament semifinals for the first time since the inaugural tournament in 2012.
Playing for the third time this season, the Highlanders and Green Knights went toe-to-toe for 45 minutes of back-and forth hockey, only to find they needed overtime to determine a winner.
“It’s the 4-5 game, two evenly matched teams who split the first two games,” Northern Highlands coach Jason Beswick said. “We both had chances, I’m just glad we were able to find that goal, especially James, because he’s really been struggling.”
The winning sequence began with Jin Lee sending Max Kestenbaum into the offensive zone. Despite his season-long drought, Cerepak did what any good forward would do.
“I just crashed the net,” he said. “I went back door, and Max gave me a real nice pass and I didn’t even think; I just shot it.”
The shot from just off the left post found its way just across the line, sending his teammates skating down and piling on top of him. It was as much congratulatory as it was a relief, because the Highlanders (9-3) staved off a number of St. Joseph scoring chances.
“Overall, it’s fair to say they probably had the better of the scoring chances, but we’re very used to that ourselves, so in some ways seeing the same type of scoring frustration we have been having happen to the other team, we’ll take it,” Beswick said.
The teams played a scoreless first period that seemed more like a feeling out process, but once the goal line was finally broken, both squads heated up. Highlands was the first to score, with Mark Cinotti getting behind a pair of St. Joseph defensemen for a mini-breakaway and a goal at 7:03 of the second.
Exactly one minute later, the Green Knights evened things up on an Anthony Demario goal down low. They took their first lead a mere 29 seconds into the second period on a Cole Garabed tally, exploiting a Highlander defensive mistake.
St. Joseph couldn’t hold the lead, thanks to a penalty. Jin Lee converted the power play score at 2:37 of the third period. From there, both teams looked to play from the defense forward, trying to avoid the critical error.
That strategy almost backfired twice on Highlands. The Green Knights (11-3) had a 3 on 1 rush that fizzled when a Northern Highlands defenseman was able to break up a slow developing pass. They also had a 2-on-1 break 5:20 into the overtime on which Highlander goalie Richard Vincent made one of his 24 saves.
BERGEN CATHOLIC 3, RIVER DELL/WESTWOOD 0 – The No. 7 Golden Hawks stayed with the No. 2 Crusaders for the first half of the game, but the Bergen Catholic depth and speed finally wore them down.
After a scoreless first period in which River Dell/Westwood goalie Matt Ajello made some key saves, Pierre LaMonica finally put BC (7-7-1) on the board at 3:14 of the second. When Tommy Kleinman added another goal at 7:34, the Golden Hawks (11-4) were in trouble.
Will Frasetto made it 3-0 at 12:52 of the second period, one in which Bergen Catholic was dominant over the final 10 minutes. They outshot River Dell/Westwood 14-9 in the period, and Ajello did all he could to keep his team in it.
GLEN ROCK 5, INDIAN HILLS 0– The Panthers (9-2-2) punched their ticket to the semifinals and a rematch with Bergen Catholic with a three-goal first period that set the tone for the entire game.
Peter Cassidy scored the first of his two goals 5:55 into the game and Jake Kinney added the second one 1:44 after that. That seemed to take the wind out of the Braves’ sails, even though they outshot Glen rock in the opening period.
Matthew Maselli made it 3-0 before the end of the first and Cassidy and Eddie Corvelli scored in the second period, with Corvelli’s coming with 56 seconds left in the period.
From that point, it was a matter of getting Ryan McAuley the shutout, and the Rocker defense took care of that along with McAuley, who notched 26 saves.
DON BOSCO 13, MAHWAH 0 – In the first-ever tournament game to end after two periods, the Thunderbirds (6-7-4) were completely over matched by the Ironmen, who set a tournament records for goals in a game and margin of victory.
Mickey Burns got the only goal Bosco (8-3-1) would need 1:38 into the game. It was the first of six goals in the first period for the Ironmen, with six different players scoring. Burns added a second goal 1:16 into the second period, after which the Ironmen liberally went with the third and fourth lines.
John Papandrea had his first two goals of the season and Michael Chris, Will Fortescue and Mark Garfinkel also scored their first goals of the year.