Coming off of a county championship and a McInnis Cup Championship, the Blue Devils turn their sights onto the state tournament. At a time where it matters most, they look to play their best brand of hockey to achieve what they couldn’t last year. In order to achieve this, the Blue Devils scheduled a game against NJ powerhouse St. Joe’s Regional.
Head coach Joe Bertucci said, “The idea was to come out of this rink better than we stepped in and I think we did that. When we play quality opponents we raise our game up with them and that’s what we gotta do the entire [state] tournament.”
Between the No. 9 ranked Blue Devils and No. 4 ranked Green Knights, both teams had to bring their all. However, senior assistant-captain and key offensive player Aidan Wilson went down with a wrist injury in the first shift of the game. Outside of missing Wilson, Westfield was also missing junior Tyler Bergman and senior leading scorer Jackson Chicola. The Blue Devils put up a more than valiant effort against the Green Knights but would fall short 3-1.
In the first period both teams demonstrated why they have asserted themselves as top teams in the state, with shut down defense and goalie play. Junior goalie Troy Conover had a pair of crucial saves to keep the Blue Devils from trailing early. Heading into the second period the game was still tied at 0-0.
Senior assistant-captain Austen Halleran said, “We came a little slow today, especially to beat a good team like this we can’t do that.”
With key offensive pieces missing, sophomore Chris Smok stepped up and scored only 15 seconds into the second period. Spirits were high for the Blue Devils to pull off the upset, even without the team at full strength. Nevertheless, the Green Knights responded immediately to tie the game at 1-1. Following St. Joe’s goal, both teams earned quality opportunities to take the lead but SJR was able to capitalize.
In a late attempt to equalize the game, the Blue Devils took a risk and took goalie Conover up, leaving the net empty and allowing SJR to score a third goal.
The result may not have gone in the Blue Devils favor but this game was still a success for the Blue Devils. Senior captain Jack Conrod said, “I don’t think much went wrong today. That’s a great team and we played solid without a couple key guys. I was really happy with our defense and goaltending today, we just couldn’t find the back of the net.”
Westfield is back in action Feb. 24 against Hunterdon Central for the first round of the NJSIAA State Tournament where they look to put their experience into fruition.
