The stadium stood nearly silent. Attempted chants went to nothing. The air was dense as a bid to advance to the state championship was on the line. Westfield, the No. 1 seed, and Hillsborough, the No. 5 seed, played three hard-fought periods of hockey in the Public A semifinals at Richard J. Codey Arena, and the score remained 3-3.
This meant one thing. More hockey. Hillsborough would eventually outlast the Blue Devils in the sudden-death overtime period, winning 4-3.
Jackson Chicola sought to be the hero in overtime, as he skated ferociously down the ice with 13 minutes left. As he went to shoot the puck, he was cross checked into the boards, giving the Blue Devils a man advantage. Being a man up, the Blue Devils fans came alive. “Let’s go Westfield” chants echoed across the stadium. Momentum swung in the favor of the Blue Devils.
That was until the Raiders killed the power play. Louis Bizzoco, Hillsborough goalie, fed off this newfound momentum in the proceeding minutes. As Chicola put himself in a great shooting position after deking two defenders, Westfield fans could almost taste the victory.
However, Bizzoco must have been at a different restaurant, ordering a different meal, because he was tasting something different. Bizzoco came up with an acrobatic save on Chicola with nine minutes to play in overtime. The momentum had officially shifted, and Westfield fans knew it.
Following a faceoff win in the Westfield defensive zone with just under seven minutes to play in overtime, Hillsborough ripped a shot. Westfield goalie Andrew Raber stood tall and blocked the shot. He could not cover the puck, no matter how hard he tried, and it got away from him. Nolan Collison, points leader for the Raiders, snatched the puck and knew what he had to do with it. Make one more pass. Collison fed the man of the night, Logan Behrje, and he did what he does best. Finish the puck and put any Westfield hopes of winning a state championship to bed.
“I think we had a bit of nerves out there, and we were just playing a bit nervous,” said Westfield head coach Joe Bertucci.
While it was obvious that the Blue Devils were nervous in overtime, the nerves showed throughout the entire game. Especially during the second period when the Blue Devils went on the power play. The Blue Devils were two men up, with the score locked at zero, and had their sights set on striking first.
“Most teams are evenly matched when it is five on five,” Bertucci said. “You have to capitalize on the opportunities you have.”
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, the inverse occurred. The Raiders killed the five on three, and as soon as they got even, Behrje tallied his first of four points, as he snuck the puck right past Raber’s right shoulder.
“Westfield is a great team with a great power play, so I was trying to tell the boys to stay tight and keep them to longer distance shots,” said Dave Hansen, Hillsborough head coach. “Once we got even, [Behrje], our senior leader, did what he does best and finished.”
While the Raiders drew first blood, Westfield had its fair share of opportunities through the likes of Jonathan Gorski misfiring and Aidan Wilson putting the puck over the net in a crucial position, and the Blue Devils would respond. Michael Wilson fired a slapshot on cage. Bizzoco denied the initial shot attempt, yet Chicola was there for the Blue Devils to tie the game at one apiece.
Two minutes later, Andrew Lisnock gave Westfield the lead. Westfield led 2-1 at the end of the second period, and fans were loving it. “He’s a freshman” chants were roared like the neighboring lions at the zoo, and the Blue Devil fans had all the confidence in the world going into the third period and the second ice cut of the game.
“When you play only two or three lines, having that second ice cut is crucial for the rest and recovery of our guys,” harped Hansen.
After the ice cut, Aidan Wilson came out like a man on a mission, effortlessly maneuvering his way through Raider defenders. He skated adjacent to the net, before spinning around and finding Daniel Duffy in front of the net. Duffy found the puck on his stick and a hole in Bizzoco’s coverage. Duffy gave a small tap and snuck it past Bizzoco. Westfield fans roared in celebration. The Blue Devils had seemingly taken control of the game with a comfortable 3-1 lead.
That was until the rested Raiders came alive late in the third period.
With their backs against the wall, and their season hanging by a thread, Hansen looked to inspire the Raiders. “I just told them to keep skating,” he said. “Don’t look at the scoreboard, just keep skating, guys, we will get our balance.”
They responded instantly. Behrje scored his second goal of the night off an assist from Nate Bienstock, cutting the Blue Devil lead to just one. “I think after we got the first one, they started to believe in themselves and became a little bit more confident,” Hansen said.
The confidence became obvious. Playing on the man advantage, down a goal with 5:53 remaining, the Raiders oozed confidence. Behrje found himself with the puck yet again, and everyone in the arena assumed he would take a shot. This time, though, he found Bienstock in front of the goal. Bienstock netted the game-tying goal. The Blue Devil fans went quiet. Their lead had been lost, and allowing the Raiders to stick around would prove disastrous.
“I think [my players] knew that last year they were the team that was leading 3-1 in the semifinal, and got beat, so they wanted to make sure that they would not get beat this year,” Hansen said.
As the Raiders piled on the boards in celebration, advancing to Monday’s Public A championship against Ridge at the Prudential Center at 5:45 p.m., the Blue Devils hung their heads in defeat. After the handshake line and the cheers on the other side of the ice, the players skated off towards the locker room. Except for three.
The captains circled at center ice, tears in their eyes as they skated off the ice together one last time.
“Our guys would do anything for each other,” Bertucci said. “It’s really a special bond, and I feel bad we weren’t able to get it done tonight.”
While the Blue Devils didn’t get the end they hoped for, they finished the year 14-8-2 with a lot of promise going into next season. Keeping their leaders in all four major categories (assists, goals, points, saves) the Blue Devils will remain a force to be reckoned with next season.
