The Randolph Rams defeated the Ridgewood Maroons, 5-3, in a tightly contested semifinal matchup on Tuesday evening, Feb. 27, at SportsCare Arena in Randolph.
“We didn’t come out ready and they put us on our heels,” senior goalie John Krynicki said.
For the first time in this year’s state playoffs, Randolph surrendered a goal against the opponents. At about halfway through the first, Ridgewood struck. From there they added another power play marker to put the Rams in a place they haven’t often been in, down two goals.
“We needed more heart, and that message was sent very clearly in between periods,” junior captain Brian Cislo said.
Randolph came out looking sharper in the second, firing every opportunity they could, but they found no reward for their efforts. The Ridgewood netminder looked like he was finding every puck being fired his way, until a 5-on-3 power play for Randolph where junior Drew George ripped a blistering shot by him, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
“That got everyone so fired up and we just kept going harder from there,” George said.
The 3rd period began with the score still at 2-1 but soon changed. A little over two minutes in, another power play was awarded to Randolph and saw a shot from George redirect off of sophomore Daniel Sharkey and in for the game-tying goal. With all the momentum on their side, Randolph decided they weren’t done when junior captain Jase Zangara fed a wonderful centering pass on to the tape of sophomore Keegan Melly, who found the back of the net to send the crowd into bedlam and give Randolph the lead, 3-2.
That lead was short lived after an unfortunate break saw the Maroons tie the game at 3 apiece.
“They got a lucky bounce, but we didn’t get down on ourselves. We wanted to win, and we showed it out there,” Krynicki said.
The game remained tight as neither team gave an inch of open ice to the opposition. It wasn’t until a loose puck that had bounced out of a scrum along the boards was picked up by Sharkey, who walked in and fired home his second tally of the night, giving the Rams a 4-3 lead with 44 seconds remaining. Zangara would follow up 5 seconds later after intercepting a feed and depositing the dagger into a half empty net.
“We’ve been working hard; we are all beaten and bruised,” Head Coach Rich Mclaughlin said. “We must make sure we get rest and take it game by game.”
The Rams, now 22-0-1, advance to the North State Sectional Finals versus Northern Highlands today, Thursday, Feb. 29, starting at 4:30 p.m. at Mennen Arena in Morristown.
