With 11 minutes left in the third period, senior assistant captain Jackson Chicola buried his third goal of the game, bringing Westfield’s lead to 5-2. With the help of Chicola’s offensive dominance, the Blue Devils were able to secure a 6-2 win over Livingston to win the McInnis Cup final.
The Blue Devils faced Livingston on Feb. 12 in a highly anticipated game, with the McInnis Cup on the line. Westfield already beat Livingston on Jan. 5 with a 7-2 win. This game started with Chicola scoring for Westfield, netting two goals in the first period of the game. Junior Blake Wotanowski said, “It was great. We came out really strong and jumped on them early. We had a push back, but we stayed strong and were able to pull through and get the win.”
After having a strong first period, the Lancers were able to get back into the game during the second period, closing the score gap to 3-2.
Chicola said, “We had a lot of confidence and we got a little too cocky. Livingston came out flying and we knew going into the third we had to come out hard.”
Westfield responded and came out in the third period with guns blazing. Sophomore Liam Reed, Wotanowski and Chicola all had a goal each to bury Livingston’s chances of winning. As the puck went back-and-forth, Westfield shut down scoring opportunities for the Lancers. Goalie junior Troy Conover closed out the game with a total of 20 saves, recording a shutout in the first and third period.
Wotonowski said, “We were confident and we knew we were better than them. Before the game we said the only team that could beat us was ourselves. We handled business today and we were happy to get the championship”
The Blue Devils will be back in action on Feb.19 facing Saint Joseph Regional High School at Warinanco. This will be their last regular season game before heading into the state tournament as the second seed. Bertucci said, “We are going to take the momentum from this game into states. It is nice to win, it is nice to celebrate, but now we are onto the next step.”
Adding to that, Chicola said, “This game is a real confidence booster and we know that we are the best team in the state and we are ready to show it.”
