Early in the second period, Westfield was tied 2-2 with the Cranford Cougars in what was supposed to be a “blowout” home opener. Tension was high and the Cougars were hungry for an upset when senior assistant captain, Jackson Chicola, was able to sling the puck in the back of the net allowing the Blue Devils to take the lead. After Chicola lit a spark for the Blue Devils, they ran away with the game for a 7-3 win over the Cougars. Head coach Joe Bertucci said, “It’s nice to get the home opener out of the way and pick up 2 points against a rival, county team, and a team that’s in our league.”
The first period was not a true reflection of the matchup; Westfield came out hungry but so did Cranford. In the first 3 minutes of the game junior Andrew Lisnock ripped a shot fueling the Blue Devils, little did they know, this also fueled the Cougars. Twenty seconds later, Cranford responded, scoring a goal to tie up the game. Cranford built on their momentum and scored again 4 minutes later, putting the Blue Devils down. Luckily, with just 3 minutes left in the first period, senior assistant captain, Aidan Wilson, was able to score his second goal of the night, tying the game yet again going into the second period.
Junior goalie Troy Conover said, “After the first period, we talked in the locker room to reiterate our game plan on who to lock down on. We were able to shut down those good shooters and continue playing without having those high-level threat shots coming.”
The second and third periods were a breeze for the Blue Devils. Their offense scored five times between the second and third periods. Chicola said, “We played well in our conditions and moved the puck well and got shots off. We knew their goalie was weak and his weak spots, so that was important today in our offense.” Simultaneously, the defense picked up their play and only conceded one more goal in the game. Moving forward, Bertucci said, “We gotta get off to a better start. I think we can’t allow ourselves to get behind in games and have to dig ourselves out of a hole against quality teams, it’s gonna hurt us.”
Bertucci said, “We have a veteran group that’s hungry after what happened last year. They are looking to win some hardware this year.” The boys are back in action away at Summit on Tuesday at 7 pm looking to advance to 3-0 in their season.
