Daniel Duffy got the puck at the center of the ice with just under 10 minutes to play in the first period of the Public A quarterfinal. He fired a wrist shot on cage that beelined toward the bottom left corner, but Jack Scali, standout goalie for Ridgewood, had other plans. Using his blocker, he made an acrobatic save. The puck stayed in play, however. Zach Park found it off the rebound and placed it in the net. The lamp lit, and by this point the inevitable occurred. The Blue Devils beat Scali, one of the best goaltenders in the state, and knew that by putting one past him the game was just about over.
Park said, “We knew that their goalie was really strong so we were looking for a rebound goal to start, and once we got one past him our confidence soared through the roof and we felt like we couldn’t be beat.”
Westfield would ultimately win the game, 4-1, advancing to Thursday’s semifinal round, where the top-seeded Blue Devils will face fifth-seeded Hillsborough.
The Blue Devil offense looked efficient and undisturbed by the Ridgewood defenders. Westfield consistently got shots on every possession, and the Blue Devils made it their mission to tire Scali out, and eventually put a few past him.
“We worked on getting low shots on net and crashing in for rebounds, and we were able to get that early on. It lets you breathe a little bit easier when you score first as well,” said coach Joe Bertucci.
As the game grew, and the Rebels’ season began to vanish in front of their eyes, the physicality and hits after the whistle became plentiful. Bertucci had a simple solution to this: If they touch you after the whistle, put your hands behind your back and make them pay on the power play. The Blue Devils took Bertucci’s words to heart, and they executed both plans to perfection.
To create the second-period Ridgewood barrage of penalties, Duffy instigated the Rebels with a filthy goal. After winning the faceoff in the offensive zone, Duffy snatched the puck and saw two defenders in his line of vision. He quickly contorted himself away from the defenders while managing to keep the puck. Adding insult to injury, he snuck the puck right past Scali. Period two had just begun, and the Blue Devils’ scoring also had just begun.
The first of the two power play goals was scored by Aidan Wilson. Wilson picked up the puck in the Westfield defensive zone and saw open ice. He skated furiously down the ice, not encountering a defender until reaching the Blue Devils’ offensive zone. There, he made the two defenders look like children, as he displayed an incredible deke before finishing the puck and of course converting on the power play. Westfield now led, 3-0, with six minutes to go in the second period, and not even Scali’s 42 saves could save Ridgewood.
Ridgewood shot itself in the foot again in the second period. After a skirmish behind the net, two Rebels found their way to the penalty box, creating a five on three. Michael Wilson took full advantage of Ridgewood’s late blunder. He found the puck on his stick just past the blue line, and with no defender in sight he wound back and fired a slap shot past Scali for the fourth goal of the night.
While it may seem that the sole bright spot for Ridgewood was Scali with his 42 saves, the Rebels had numerous opportunities to score throughout the game, forcing Andrew Raber to bring his best. This is exactly what Raber did. In each of the three periods, Raber made at least one memorable save that every fan went home and talked about. In the first period, 11 minutes into the game, Raber came up huge for the Blue Devils, as he stood tall in goal and shut down the two-on-one opportunity. In period number two, with three minutes to go, the Rebels threw everything they had at Raber as they attempted a comeback. Raber once again stood tall in the net and destroyed any Ridgewood players’ hopes of a comeback. In the third period, with 10 minutes to go, Raber was faced with his toughest challenge yet. An odd man rush of a two-on-zero. Raber stuck his leg out and used his blocker to keep the puck out of the net, further cementing the Blue Devil win. Raber would finish the night with 21 saves, allowing just one goal.
On his performance, Raber said, “I think it was just my warmup. I think it was getting in a good pregame and when the game started, I think my defensemen were really clearing passes well, getting bodies away from the front and that allowed me to see where the shot was coming.”
With the win over the Rebels, the Blue Devils will travel to Richard J. Codey Arena on Thursday night for the semifinal meeting with Hillsborough. The two teams squared off on opening day of the hockey season, with the Blue Devils dismantling Hillsborough, 9-2. The Blue Devils, however, expect this game to be more difficult. “We played Hillsborough early in the season, but as the one seed every team’s looking to bring their best and knock us off, so we really have to play our best and come out with the same energy as we have all season,” Park said.
