Westfield hockey beats Monroe 9-3 in the Public South Sectional Final for the first time in nine years. They will advance to the Public State Final on Monday at the Prudential Center.
Westfield steps onto the ice to begin the second period of the Sectional Final with a tied 1-1 game. Twenty seven seconds later, senior assistant-captain Aidan Wilson buries a shot to break the tie. The crowd goes ballistic over this strong start of a period and is still recovering when exactly one minute later, senior Brody Esler bounces senior assistant-captain Austen Halleran’s shot off his skate past Monroe’s goalie. Now leading 3-1 only a minute and a half into the second period, the Blue Devils are soaring with confidence and continue ripping through the Falcon’s with speed and congruence.
Westfield entered this game with revenge ringing in their ears, for both the coaches and the players. Having lost in this round the past nine years in a row, they were determined to let this season be the year they break the curse. Head Coach Joe Bertucci said, “There’s so many kids that have been in this situation and come up short in past years, tonight they knew what it took to get over that hump.”
Chicola followed up with, “It’s been a long time coming, we’ve lost in this game so many times, including both years in my career, so it’s exciting to finally break the curse.”
The Blue Devils came out ripping at the very first buzzer with junior Blake Wotanowski putting a goal away from Westfield only a minute and a half into the game. However, shortly after Westfield conceded some early penalties that left Monroe at a 5v3 advantage on the ice, during which they were able to convert and tied the game 1-1. The rest of the first period remained even between teams, both chasing each other back and forth down the ice and both goalies having to come up strong in multiple instances.
After the first period, Bertucci said, “Taking a few penalties early threw us off a little bit but with our depth and offensive power we knew we would turn it around.”
Once the second period started with Wilson and Esler securing two points for the Blue Devils, they knew they had clutched the game for the night. Two minutes after the first set of goals, another pair of goals followed, the first being Wilson’s second goal of the night with 11:29 left in the second period and the follow-up coming with 10:22 left from senior captain Jackson Chicola. Chicola was able to put his second of the night in with only 0:55 seconds left in the second period, ending with a strong 6-1 lead and a second period of senior class performance.
Junior Andrew Lisnock said, “We came out slow and weren’t really moving our feet in the first period, but we talked in the locker room and knew if we could just get the puck deep they wouldn’t be able to handle us in the second period and clearly they couldn’t.”
The Blue Devils were on fire immediately going into the third, with Lisnock scoring his first of the night very early on. Monroe continued pushing throughout the game and was able to put one in against junior goalie Troy Conover, to which Lisnock responded with his second of the night, and the Falcon’s then followed up with one more on a power play again. Sophomore Liam Reed was able to solidify the game toward the end of the third period with a goal, making the final score 9-3 Westfield.
Lisnock said, “Everyone is just so pumped, I’ve never seen a group of guys this excited in their life. We’re the first time to ever get past it and that feels incredible.”
Mirroring that same excitement, Bertucci gave final words for Monday’s game and said, “Let’s go. Time to win the big one now.”
The boys will play at the Prudential Center on Monday, March 10 for the Public State Final Championship for the first time in program history at 1:00 p.m.
