Randolph edges Cougars on third-period goal
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
NEWARK — Losing never gets any easier to take, but the fact that the Montgomery High School ice hockey team was playing for the public A Division state championship was big enough.
”Nobody thought we were going to get here,” said MHS head coach Rob Scarpa. “What we had to do is we had to shore up some kids that were a little nervous at the beginning of the year to play with the poise you need to have to get to the level like this. They just improved.
”They’re great kids,” he added. “They come from a great town. I think they represented that town pretty well tonight.”
The Cougars rode the hot goaltending of Zach Schiavo to the finals, and Schiavo stayed hot with 36 saves but nemesis Randolph found a way to get one by the spectacular senior goaltender in a 1-0 win over Montgomery in the championship Sunday at The Prudential Center.
”A lot of people thought we were going to get blown out, and obviously we didn’t,” said Scarpa, whose team finished 21-8. “We held strong, and that’s all you can ask of the kids is all-out effort, to be there for each other, to make sure they support each other if it doesn’t go the way it’s supposed to, which they did. And end it with class, and I thought they really did.”
The top-seeded Rams had more depth and experience than the Cougars, who were the third seed and not expected to get by Morris Knolls in the semifinals. Randolph was a 10-0 winner in their semifinal; Montgomery needed a shootout to upset Morris Knolls.
”We’re playing with house money at this point,” Scarpa said. “The pressure was squarely on Randolph. Last year, they lost that (finals) game, 1-0. We were hoping at some point they would get a little nervous, that never happened. They’re so well coached, so well disciplined, they’re great kids and they obviously work hard to implement their system and they do a great job.
”They were one goal better than us today. Unfortunately we don’t win, but the experience is sometimes what it’s about. And they had a great experience.”
The Cougars hung in through relentless pressure from Randolph. The Rams defense rarely allowed Montgomery to even hold the puck in their offensive zone for long enough to get quality chances. Montgomery’s best scoring chances came on quick counterattacks.
”We did almost exactly what we thought we had to do,” Scarpa said. “We thought we had to be very close at the end and hopefully be able to spring someone loose and get a shot on goal and try to get a winner somehow. As far as thinking it was going to be an even game and having equal shots, even the same advantages we’ve had in other games this year, we knew that wasn’t going to happen. We were hoping to put one in and defend as best we could. I thought we did a very good job defensively, as did they.
”The ice was tilted our way the whole game, and unfortunately at the end there, they were able to pop one in.”
With 10:09 to go in the second period, Jeff Garinger sent a howitzer in from the blue line, and the long rebound teased him as he skated in, but he couldn’t quite get to it. With 4:05 left in the second period, Luc Esposito dropped a pass back to an on-rushing Kevin Wanke, whose shot was saved. Thirty-five seconds later, Esposito hit the outside of the post as he skated in from the right side.
At the other end, Randolph had several dangerous chances turned away by the Cougars defense. The Rams finally broke the scoreless game on a rebound goal by Matthew Kral with 3:41 left in regulation.
”We were hoping at the three-minute mark we could get to overtime and recharge the legs a little bit and then anything could happen at that point,” Scarpa said. “Once it gets under the five-minute mark, you assume it’s overtime already with these two teams. They were able to pop one in, and unfortunately the kids don’t get what they want, but life lessons are hard sometimes and they did a great job.”
Schiavo again was brilliant. After making 62 saves in their shootout win over Morris Knolls, he was tested early in every period by Randolph, and turned away every chance until Kral found a rebound on the left side.
”He played amazing for us,” Scarpa said. “I think everyone in the state has seen what kind of player he is. He’s a great kid. He’s an easy-going spirit. He’s real loose and that really resonated through the rest of the team. Hats off to Zach. I hope he gets everything he deserved. He really did work really hard to get here.”
It’s the fourth straight year in which Randolph has ended Montgomery’s state tournament. They also beat Montgomery in the 2006 state final, the only other state final that the Cougars have made.
”We’re missing a goal every time,” Scarpa said. “If you play them that close all the time, it’s a good rivalry. It’s one-sided completely at this point as far as wins and losses are concerned, but I think everyone has respect for everyone on both sides. I think it’s a real hard fought game every year.
”It came down to they got a goal and we didn’t. We wish we had a couple more kids that we would have been able to put out there, but it just wasn’t in the cards this year. Hopefully next year, we’ll come back even stronger and go from there.”
The Cougars will graduate Schiavo and regular defensemen Patrick Huang and Liam Sullivan.
Said Scarpa: “This senior class has really come a long way from being a class that really didn’t have a whole lot of playing last year to having three of them step in this year and be major contributors. It was a good run for the kids.
”We keep all the forwards, but we do lose two defensemen and the goaltender, so it’s going to be a long road back to get the kids where we kind of need them to be,” he added. “We hope to have a little more depth next year with the younger guys getting more experience this year and hopefully they’ll be ready to play in a game like this a little more.”
Another trip to the finals and another loss to Randolph add motivation for the crop of Cougars coming back. They will return with high goals again after developing into the surprise finalist of 2011.
”Hopefully they keep working the way they worked in the last several weeks,” Scarpa said. “It’s nothing that we did wrong. It’s something that they did right. You tip your hat and move on.”

