Sunday, January 3, 2010

By Jimmy Hascup
NJS.com Correspondent

HACKENSACK -- Success in sports – especially at the high school level – is determined by winning and losing streaks. With such a short season compared to the professional levels, the importance of coaches concocting and sustaining a winning formula from day-one of the season is greatly magnified. Though the recipe for success may be simple, carrying it out may be easier said than done.

Just look at the two high school hockey teams, Ridgewood and Lakeland Regional, who faced off on Saturday afternoon at the Ice House in Hackensack, for further proof. After starting off the season with a five-game winning-streak, Ridgewood has begun to see its season spiral downward, with the latest of four-straight losses coming against Lakeland, 3-0.

The Lancers, who have a 5-3-1 record, have not won more than one game in a row this season, but coach Larry Mahurter was thrilled with the results against Ridgewood.

“I’m excited because we never do well in the Ice House,” Mahurter said. “This is our second win in about five years here since I’ve been with the program, so it’s encouraging to see; it’s a good road win. They’re first place in the Bergen County Tri-League on the other side, so for us to get two points this early against them is good because we know the rest of the teams will have a hard time.”

On Saturday, though, Passaic County reigned dominant over Bergen County. Despite outshooting the Lancers in the first period 7-4, Ridgewood was not as quick to the many loose pucks and struggled in one-one-one battles. Many of the Maroons’ shots came from bad angles and were kept to the outside.

At 7:45 of the first period, Lakeland was able to transform a Ridgewood turnover in the neutral zone into a two-on-one opportunity, and ultimately into the game’s first goal. Rory Specia nailed the top right-corner of the net with a shot off of a pass from Nick Arlotta.

After the tally from the Lancers, Ridgewood maintained puck possession in the Lakeland zone but was unable to generate any quality chances, with the best chance coming on a cross from Kenny Turnbull to a cutting Vincent Daniels, but the puck slid across the crease.

The Maroons came out in the second period a hungrier team, even though the goals remained hard to come by. One of the few times Ridgewood had men in front of the net, Daniels wristed a shot that sailed just high after it deflected off of a Lakeland defender’s stick. Later in the period, leading scorer, Kevin Entwistle, had an open-look at the net from a feed by defenseman Matt Kusel, but couldn't get good wood on his first attempt and the second one was knocked away by Lakeland goalie Keith Gay, who was able to get in position to turn the shot aside. Just minutes later, Entwistle had another chance on a wrist shot from ten feet out that was stoned by Gay – the proceeding backhand attempt by Entwistle off of the rebound was also turned away.

Despite the scoring chances Ridgewood had in the second, Lakeland continued to pressure the Maroons’ defenders with their size and speed. The biggest difference in the two teams’ play was that most of Lakeland’s scoring opportunities came from open areas at point-blank range, while Ridgewood’s were from the outside and mostly non-existent. At nearly three minutes into the second period Tom Watchler, who was uncovered at the crease, took a pass from behind the net and wristed it over the glove of Ridgewood goalie Kasey Zegal.

Nearly six minutes later, Ridgewood’s Daniels took a slashing penalty and Lakeland capitalized on the man-advantage. Watchler fed a pass to Specia, who skated towards the net, and again flicked a shot over the glove of Zegal, for his second goal of the game.

Specia saw the game as a huge bounce-back victory for the Lancers.

“We had a big wakeup call coming out of counties; we ended losing in the semifinals,” Specia said. “We just knew we had to pick it up, so we all came out really hard and we wanted to win today. We just came out there and took our game plan to them.”

Even though the third period was scoreless, it wasn’t without its chances for Ridgewood. Halfway through the period, the Maroons had a power-play, but the pressure-defense employed by Lakeland forced Ridgewood to scramble around and make hurried passes. They only had one shot in the two-minute man-advantage.

The Maroons will search to find their winning ways against Clifton on January 8.

“In the beginning of the season we were very aggressive and we were forcing teams to make mistakes,” Coach Michael Lucchesi said. “And for now, for whatever reason we’ve been a little bit more lax and it looks like we’re a bit nervous to make mistakes. I know some of the kids are starting to get frustrated so I think that’s also playing a factor. So to try to get us to settle down and get us back to playing the way we’re capable of has to be our focus.”

For the Lancers, their success hinges on keeping things simple. Consistency hasn’t been a trademark of this team, but Mahurter believes the wins will come as long as the players stick to the game plan. “It’s more of a basic defensive minded system,” Mahurter said. “Making sure there’s no odd-man rushes against our goaltending, making sure all of the shots are to the outside [and] when teams turnover the puck in the neutral zone we go hard on it – two men on it down low – and charge the goal.

Lakeland will look to continue its solid play on Sunday when the Lancers face-off against Passaic Valley.

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