Schools
Early Lead Slips Away, Ridge Falls to Westfield 3-2
Early season injuries are piling up for the ice hockey team, which dropped to a 2-4-1 record.
To say the Ridge defense is ahead of its offense would be an accurate statement so far in the early portion of the 2009-2010 ice hockey season.
It was a solid defensive performance that allowed the Red Devils to have a one goal lead going into the third period of Wednesday night's non-league clash vs. Westfield.
Ridge was attempting to allow only one goal for the third straight game and if the Red Devils were successful at doing that, their record would have reached the .500 mark for the first time this season.
Unfortunately for Ridge, the Red Devils allowed a shorthanded goal four and a half minutes into the third period and then yielded what turned out to be the game-winning goal with just less than three minutes remaining.
It added up to a tough 3-2 setback in what was the only scheduled game Ridge will play this season at Warinanco Ice Skating Rink in Roselle.
Ridge had a two-game unbeaten streak snapped and fell to 2-4-1. Westfield improved to 4-2-1. Ridge has scored 16 goals and given up 22 so far and has scored more than three goals only once in seven games.
After goals by sophomore forward Bryce Mullen and senior forward Eric Von der Linde gave the Red Devils leads of 1-0 in the first period and 2-1 in the second, Westfield's CJ Meyer scored his second goal of the game to knot the score at 2-2 with 10:29 left in the third. The Westfield assistant captain previously tied the game at 1-1 with his first goal of the night eight and a half minutes into the second period.
Meyer's third-period goal reached the net after it was deflected. There was still 46 seconds remaining on the Westfield penalty, which the Blue Devils eventually killed.
"What happened was they just threw it in front and it was the luck of the bounce ... and it bounced right in," Ridge head coach Tim Mullin said. "It went off their guy and bounced in."
Ridge had a 9-2 edge in shots on goal in the second period after the shots were pretty even during the first 15 minutes, with Ridge firing eight in the opening stanza and Westfield 10. Both goals scored by Mullen and Von der Linde came on nice backhand efforts.
For the most part, it was a pretty even game that was not decided until late. "It was back and forth the whole game and real close," Mullin said. "We were winning 2-1 and then they tied it. It was a good game."
Shortly after Westfield killed off a third two-minute Ridge power play in the third period, the Blue Devils struck for the game-winner.
Junior right wing Nick Attanasio received a pass from senior defenseman Dylan Moran and managed to flick a shot past Ridge junior goaltender Alec Wells with just 2:57 showing.
It was the 10th goal of the season for Attanasio, which leads the Blue Devils.
"These were two evenly matched teams," Mullin said.
NOTES: Before returning to Skyland Conference play on Jan. 9 against Hunterdon Central, the Red Devils have four more non-league games on their schedule, two this month and two in January.
Ridge is set to skate against Don Bosco Prep Monday night at 8:15 and vs. Ramapo Tuesday night at 6:30 in Holiday Classic contests at Ice Vault Arena in Wayne. "We've lost to some real good teams and we're going to find out a lot on Monday when we play Don Bosco and then we play Ramapo," Mullin said. "It's going to be an interesting tournament."
Ridge will then begin January with non-league games against Morris Knolls Jan. 2 at 8:15 p.m. at Mennen Arena in Morris Township and vs. St. Joseph's, Metuchen Jan. 8 at 8 p.m. at Bridgewater Sports Arena in Bridgewater.
The Red Devils might have to go at the above opponents minus senior defenseman and co-captain Sam Sisto. Mullin reported afterwards that he thought Sisto broke his collarbone during the game.
"He didn't play in the third period and that didn't help," Mullin said. Ridge's other co-captain, senior forward Eric Menard, suffered a leg injury before the season began and has yet to play.
NON-LEAGUE GAME AT WARINANCO, ROSELLE
RIDGE (2-4-1) 1 1 0 - 2
WESTFIELD (4-2-1) 0 1 2 - 3
FIRST PERIOD:
RIDGE – Goal: Bryce Mullen. Assist: Tommy Carpenter.
Time of even strength goal: 12:22. Ridge leads 1-0.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Ridge 8, Westfield 10
SAVES: Ridge 10, Westfield 7.
POWER PLAYS: Ridge 0-for-0, Westfield 0-for-1.
SECOND PERIOD:
WESTFIELD – Goal: CJ Meyer. Assists: Henry O'Brien, Nick Attanasio.
Time of even strength goal: 6:37. Game tied 1-1.
RIDGE – Goal: Eric Von der Linden. Assist: Sam Sisto.
Time of goal: 8:37.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Ridge 9, Westfield 2.
SAVES: Ridge 1, Westfield 8.
POWER PLAYS: Ridge 0-for-0, Westfield 0-for-2.
THIRD PERIOD:
WESTFIELD – Goal: CJ Meyer. Assists: Joe Kramkowski, Sam Meyer.
Time of shorthanded goal: 4:31.
WESTFIELD – Goal: Nick Attanasio. Assist: Dylan Moran.
Time of even strength goal: 12:03.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Ridge 8, Westfield 8
SAVES: Ridge 6, Westfield 8.
POWER PLAYS: Ridge 0-for-3, Westfield 0-for-0.
GAME TOTALS:
SHOTS ON GOAL - Ridge 25, Westfield 20.
GOALIE SAVES: Alec Wells, Ridge, 17.
Joe Fleschler, Westfield, 23.
POWER PLAYS: Ridge 0-for-3, Westfield 0-for-3.
2009-2010 RIDGE RED DEVILS schedule/results (2-4-1):
Dec. 4 (A) Brick Memorial 5, Ridge 2 – at Ocean Ice Palace
Dec. 5 (H) Ramsey 7, Ridge 2 – at Bridgewater
Dec. 7 (A) Ridge 3, West Essex 2 – at Clary Anderson
Dec. 11 (A) Montgomery 3, Ridge 0 – at Protec Ponds, Skyland
Dec. 12 (H) Ridge 6, Bridgewater-Raritan 1 – at Bridgewater, Skyland
Dec. 18 (H) Ridge 1, Watchung Hills 1 – at Bridgewater, Skyland
Dec. 19 Montgomery, 8:30 p.m. – Bridgewater, Skyland
Postponed - snow
Dec. 23 (A) Westfield 3, Ridge 2 – Warinanco
Dec. 28 at Don Bosco Prep, 8:15 p.m. – Ice Vault, Holiday Classic
Dec. 29 Ramapo, 6:30 p.m. – Ice Vault, Holiday Classic
Jan. 2 at Morris Knolls, 8:15 p.m. – Mennen Arena
Jan. 8 St. Joseph's, Metuchen, 8 p.m. – Bridgewater
Jan. 9 Hunterdon Central, 8:30 p.m. – Bridgewater, Skyland
Jan. 16 Hillsborough, 8:30 p.m. – Bridgewater, Skyland
Jan. 20 at Bridgewater-Raritan, 4:50 p.m. – Rock Ice Pavilion, Skyland
Jan. 23 Governor Livingston, 8:30 p.m. – Bridgewater
Jan. 26 at Pingry, 4 p.m. – Bridgewater, Skyland
Jan. 29 Johnson, 8 p.m. – Bridgewater
Jan. 30 Brick Memorial, Bridgewater
Feb. 3 at Watchung Hills, 5 p.m. – Union Sports Arena, Skyland
Feb. 5 at Hillsborough, 6:30 p.m. – Protec Ponds, Skyland
Feb. 6 Pingry, 8:30 p.m. – Bridgewater, Skyland
Feb. 12 at Hunterdon Central, 6:30 p.m., - Protec Ponds, Skyland
Record: 2-4-1
Skyland: 1-1-1, 3 points
Home: 1-1-1
Away: 1-3
Goals for: 16
Goals against: 22
Shutouts: 0
