As the clock ticked down in the final minutes of the third period, the game was tied 1-1. The Blue Devils had been in this position before, but not against Summit.
Westfield had beaten Summit twice this the season by multiple goals, however, this game was an outlier, with the boys seemingly headed into overtime. With 3:46 left on the clock, senior captain Alex Ebel shocked the crowd, as he easily slid the puck past the Summit goalie for his second goal of the game and gave the Blue Devils the lead. Once again, Ebel had truly proved himself to be the MVP of the boys hockey team, leading them to a 3-1 win over Summit.
This matchup was unusual for the Blue Devils. In most games, the boys have been able to take an early lead in the first period, whereas in this game, Summit was first to score. The boys trailed behind Summit up until Ebel’s first goal early on in the second period.
“I think we had a lot of hills and valleys. We started off a bit slow,” said Ebel. Since the boys had just faced Montclair Kimberley Academy just the day before winning 6-1, “a lot of us were a bit tired coming in,” added senior goalie Andrew Raber.
Despite their slow start, the Blue Devils had significantly outshot Summit throughout the game.
“The game plan was kind of just to get a lot of shots and focus on our offense and dominate down low,” said Ebel. “Being an offensive force, especially in the o-zone and dominating the neutral zone, was our plan going into the game,” said Ebel.
It was not until the end of the third period that the boys found their groove. After Ebel’s second goal within the last four minutes of the game, junior and leading goal scorer Aidan Wilson got the puck to the back of the net, securing the Blue Devils victory.
Assistant coach, CJ Meyer said, “The first period was not great. I think that as the game evolved, we played better and ultimately that was the reason we won. We got into our game plan and executed it.”
As the conference cup and state tournament quickly approach, the Blue Devils know what they need to improve upon. Senior captain Michael Wilson said that they will be focusing on “getting everyone into the flow of things because during the state playoffs, there’s going to be games that are up and close. So we’re going to need to have everyone firing on all cylinders and we’re gonna need to have everyone ready.”
Before entering the conference cup, the Blue Devils will face Livingston on Wednesday at Warinanco Park, hoping to secure one last regular season victory.
Raber said, “Personally, I’m focused on winning the game against Livingston next, and then just taking it one game at a time.”
