Daniel Duffy had the puck in the Summit neutral zone. He skated by the first Hilltopper defender and deked the second. With his momentum taking him away from the goal, Duffy fired a shot into the top left corner of the net. The buzzer sounded and the Blue Devils led 1-0 over their rival Summit. On the ensuing faceoff, the Blue Devils looked to keep the puck rolling. With a huge faceoff win, Kevin Halleran took the puck and stuffed yet another goal down Summit’s throat. The Blue Devils, who lost to the Hilltoppers on Jan. 18, in the Union County Tournament semifinals, now led the same Summit team 2-0. Capping off the first period, Duffy added another point to his stat sheet as he scored his second goal of the game, giving the Blue Devils a 3-0 lead after the first period.
“We’ve found ourselves in a hole the past few games by going down early. It’s tough to climb back, so it was really important to score first tonight,” head coach Joe Bertucci said. “If we continue to work hard we’ll be okay. Win or loss.”
It is also helpful that the Blue Devils are now on a two-game winning streak and are having fun again. “We’re just having fun out there. We are playing more free and definitely having more fun,” said Duffy.
Going into the second period, the Blue Devils were all smiles. They continued to bring the newfound passion and heart that was established last game. Michael Marshall early in the period had a great opportunity on net swallowed up by the Summit goaltender. The Summit goaltender was again forced to make an unbelievable save just three minutes later on Andrew Lisnock’s breakaway.
Like the majority of games Westfield has played this season, the Blue Devils have had one significant flaw that has held them back from achieving their true potential. Penalties. With three minutes left in the second period, the Hilltoppers had a five on three as the Blue Devils had two men in the box. The Hilltoppers would capitalize on the two-man advantage, scoring a goal, cutting the Westfield lead to just two goals at the end of the second period.
In order to keep the Blue Devils in check, and eliminate any potential Summit comeback, Bertucci’s message to the team was rather simple. “We should never be too high or too low. Yes we were up 3-0 which gets us high, but when we give up a goal we shouldn’t be too low. We just have to play our brand of hockey, and I think we did that really well tonight.”
As the game headed into the third period, the Blue Devils could taste victory. Summit knew it too. The two teams would continue to trade possession for a large chunk of the period, with no real opportunities forming for either side. Seemingly, the Hilltoppers began to get frustrated. With the minutes ticking down Summit would ignite a small skirmish, resulting in players from both teams being sent to the penalty box. The Blue Devils would go on to close out the game with no issues, giving them a much-needed revenge win over rival Summit.
This is the second win in a row for the Blue Devils, who now find themselves picking up steam heading into the McInnis Cup as well as the state tournament. They will play again Wednesday at Warinanco Park against Glen Rock. Looking to keep the momentum going into Wednesday and the big tournaments on the horizon, Duffy said, “We’re just gonna keep having fun and it’s gonna do us a lot of good and we are going to be a really hard team to beat.”
