Jaws dropped as Hunterdon Central buried their second back-to-back goal of the night, only five minutes into the first period. Their forward was put in a 1v1 with Westfield goalie Troy Conover and he slotted the puck into the back of the net, following a far away shot that was buried two minutes prior. Playing the No.16 seed, the Blue Devils went into this game very confident and the first period paid them revenge for coming out too comfortable.
Senior assistant captain Jackson Chicola said, “We came out slow. I think we took them a little lightly. Looking forward to the state tournament, there are not going to be any easy teams out there, but after the first 5 minutes, we picked it up and ran through them the rest of the way”
Westfield lost to Hunterdon Central in overtime last year, however the Blue Devils were aware that Hunterdon Central lost many key players since then. As the Red Devils had a 3-18-1 record, the Blue Devils looked over this round of the state tournament and focused on teams they would play in the future instead. They realized after the first period their mistake, and the rest of the game exemplified a sharp shift in their focus and work ethic on the ice.
Senior assistant captain Aidan Wilson scored the first goal for the Blue Devils with seven minutes remaining in the first period. Going into the second period, Jackson Chicola tied it up and three more goals were scored from Westfield. The third period brought one more goal from the Blue Devils, being senior Josh Singer’s first varsity goal. Singer has been serving Westfield as a defensemen for two years and was able to contribute offensively. He said, “That goal felt great, it was awesome to be able to contribute on both sides of the game.”
Hunterdon Central put away one more goal at the end of the game, with the end score of this state tournament round being 6-3. The Blue Devils expressed that they weren’t worried at any point in the game, even after being down two goals early in the game. Head coach Joe Bertucci said, “We have been a resilient and confident group all year. Even in the locker room between the first and second period the boys were not rattled and understood what they had to get done.”
Chicola reinforced this idea and said, “We talked about how we weren’t worried and that we just need to pick up our game. We were able to do it past that moment and we were fine, but definitely a lesson to learn moving forward.”
The Blue Devils will be back on the ice this Thursday as they face either No. 7 seed Scotch Plains or No. 10 seed Manalapan. Bertucci said, “We just have to erase this game and go onto the next one. Every state game is one game individually and it’s on to the next now.”
