WAYNE — Paramus Catholic coach Keith Bland had three things for his team to focus on Sunday night: “Effort, intensity and accountability†— three things the Paladins were lacking one night earlier.
Less than 24 hours after being upset by unranked DePaul, Paramus Catholic was back on the ice against Morris Knolls — a game with added pressure on the Paladins, according to Bland, after suffering their first loss of the year on Saturday.
“[Saturday] we had a bump in the road,†Bland said. “Our mentality wasn’t where it needed to be regarding our work ethic. I think just because we felt we were better than DePaul on paper, we felt we didn’t have to show up and do the things we should be doing night in and night out.
“And we paid the price for it. We kind of went through the motions a little bit and you saw what happened when you don’t come to work hard, no matter who you’re playing.â€
Sunday night, the effort was there, PC played with intensity from start to finish, and each player was held accountable, as the Paladins righted the ship and got back on track with a 4-3 victory over Morris Knolls.
“After last night, the message was that we have to come out and play and keep our heads in the game no matter who we’re playing,†said Matt Lepinski, who scored twice Sunday night — the first early in the second period to give PC a 2-0 lead; the second coming on a power play in the third, which proved to be the game-winner, to put the Paladins up 4-2 with 1:15 remaining.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re playing the worst team in the league or the best team, public or private schools… we have to come out and play our game and we can’t let up against anyone or underestimate anyone.â€
Whether it’s fair or not, the knock on Paramus Catholic in recent years has been the competition it plays in the Big North Gold. The Paladins quieted those critics during last season’s storybook postseason run, proving they were for real with a run to the Non-Public semifinals, but again face similar questions this season.
A good performance against Morris Knolls — a team that held Ramsey scoreless for nearly 42 minutes before falling 1-0 last Thursday night — was crucial for Paramus Catholic, even more so after Saturday’s unexpected setback.
“[Saturday] night was a good learning experience,†said PC goalie John Pitera, who made 27 saves in the winning effort Sunday, including 12 in the first period when Knolls controlled possession and had the better of the scoring opportunities.
“We knew we had to bounce back, and a game 24 hours later is the best way to do that. It was a big win tonight and really fueled our confidence.â€
With the Bergen County Tournament cutoff date a little more than a week away (Jan. 7), Sunday’s win — the Paladins “best†win of the year in terms of their competition– will prove beneficial, and could help land them a Top 4 seed behind expected top seeds Don Bosco, Ramsey and Glen Rock (Bergen Catholic could be in the mix here, too, if the Crusaders qualify).
“[Saturday] was a good wake-up call for us,†Bland said. “The kids kind of cruised a little bit in some of our games with our schedule and whatnot. We overmatched some teams and [Saturday] definitely brought us back down to earth. It was good to rebound like we did today, facing another team considered to be Top 20 in the state. I think there absolutely was more pressure on us after the DePaul game. Anytime you lose, you don’t want to start a streak of it. You want to get back to playing well and feeling good about yourselves so there was a little more pressure on us from a coaching perspective as well as a team perspective.
“I think everyone felt… I don’t want to say embarrassed, but more dejected with the effort we put forward and the main focus today was to play a solid 45 minutes of hockey and, for the most part, I thought we did that tonight.â€
After a scoreless first period in which Knolls outshot Paramus Catholic, 12-6, the Paladins jumped out a 1-0 lead early in the second on a goal from Marc Tietjen, set up with an assist from Brian D’Erario.
One minute later, Lepinski doubled the Paladins lead with an unassisted score.
Morris Knolls Blair Barrows scored with 6:41 remaining in the second to cut the deficit in half.
Early in the third, D’Erario struck for the prettiest goal of the night — a ripped shot from the point that eluded traffic in front of the net — assisted by Kevin Booth and Derek Sabato, to give PC a 3-1 lead.
Morris Knolls wouldn’t go down quietly, though, as it cut the PC lead to one again with 3:51 to go on an unassisted goal from Walter Keiper.
Lepinski would tack on his second goal of the game, off an assist from Booth, with 1:15 to go on a power play to put Paramus Catholic up, 4-2.
Morris Knolls’ Chris Rupp would eventually score with 2.6 seconds remaining.
“We just had to get better and improve after [Saturday],†Pitera said. “We knew we had to come out and play our best hockey. Coming off a loss to a good team, we needed to come out and play hard. And I think we did that as a team tonight.â€