Hasslinger was pinching in from the blue line when the puck bounced out from a scrum in front of the net and the timing was just perfect.

“I saw the puck,” said Hasslinger. “And I shot it.”

OK, so maybe it was a spur-of-the-moment event and the explanation was a little simplistic, but the goal was huge. It gave Ramsey a 3-1 lead and it stood up as the game-winner in a 4-2 win that sent the Rams into the holidays with a 6-1-1 record.

“We’ve had everybody step up at different times all year long. Tonight it was Kyle but every game it has been someone else. Our leading scorer [Jon Rainey] came in tonight with six goals, so that just shows that we don’t rely on any one player,” said Bob Toy, who is in his first season as Ramsey’s head coach. “We are not the kind of team that is going to knock anybody out, but we play well as a team, we use a lot of guys and that allows us to have fresh legs out on the ice all game and especially in third period.”

But it was in the first period when Ramsey’s offense did its best work. Less than five minutes into the game, Ryan Burns sent in Libretti, who made a hard drive toward the near post. Libretti got off a shot that was saved by Ramapo keeper Carl Boomhower, but Ricky Gnassi was there to bang home the rebound for a 1-0 Ramsey lead at 11:24.

Ramapo was whistled for just one penalty in the game, but the two-minute minor midway through the opening period turned out to be costly as Ramsey cashed its only power play opportunity. The Rams broke out of the defensive zone with a coordinated attack that ended when Rainey found John Kirk crashing the net and Kirk slid one just inside the near post to Boomhower’s left to give Ramsey the 2-0 lead.

Ramapo (1-6-1), which lost eight talented seniors from last year’s team to graduation and its leading scorer, Robbie Sorrenti, to club hockey, has been competitive all season, but its offense has yet to catch up to its defense in terms of effectiveness. The two-goal deficit figured to be too big a hole to dig out of, but the Green Raiders made a run at it and got on the board before the end of the first period.

Nick Christopoulus swooped in from the circle to the right of Ramsey goaltender Matt Braun, took control of a loose puck and rifled a shot into the traffic in front of the net. Braun made the original save through a screen, but Robbie Marra was right there to bang home the rebound with 3:50 to go in the first period to get the Green Raiders to within 2-1.

Ramapo was outshot by 12-3 in the first period, but was still in the game and fell behind by a 3-1 score early in the second period when Hasslinger found the back of the net, but the Green Raiders played their best hockey over the final 20-plus minutes and by the end of the game had closed the gap in shots on net to 26-22 in favor of Ramsey.

Ramapo got back to within 3-2 just over six minutes into the final period. Marra won a face off in the offensive zone to Braun’s left and Christopoulus dug the puck out of the corner and sent it across to the front of the net where Kevin Ix was waiting to one-time it home with 8:43 to play.

Despite the fact that Ramapo generated a few chances to get even inside the final five minutes, Braun (22 saves) was up to the task and Rainey put the cherry on top of the win with an empty net goal just 26 seconds before the final horn.

“I thought we carried the play in the second and third periods. We got out of the blocks a little slow in the first, but then we started to move the puck better and gave ourselves some opportunities,” said Ramapo head coach Steve Schick. “The big thing is that we are just not getting goal production. We are not getting scored on, Carl Boomhower has done an outstanding job for us in net and our defense has been solid, we are just not putting enough pucks in the net on the other end.

“We have the talent, we are probably the deepest team in the league, and it will come together for us, it just has to come together before we are mathematically eliminated from the states.”

There are no such worries on the Ramsey side where the Rams seem to be built for the long haul. With Greg Maisch out while he battles a case of mononucleosis, the Rams suited up just one senior, John Tosto, on Sunday night. Ramsey’s roster includes six juniors, eight sophomores and five freshmen and just about all of them contributed in the win over Ramapo. Ramsey’s lone loss this season came against Fair Lawn in a game that was closer than the 4-1 final score.

The Rams also figure to get stronger later in the season when they welcome Tyler Bishop, a transfer from Bergen Catholic who is sitting the mandatory 30 days before becoming eligible.

“We like where we are right now and that was a good win over a good Ramapo team. They are better than their record I just think they have been a little unlucky. Any win in the NBIL is a good win,” said Toy. “We certainly want to be able to compete for the NBIL [championship]. We have a win over Northern Highlands, we were competitive against Fair Lawn and we had a few guys out, and certainly being able to compete in the NBIL Tournament is important to us. That is where we have set our sights as far as team goals.”