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Health & Fitness

SPFHS Raider Icers Able to Hold off Hightstown, 5-2

January 31 - The Scotch Plains-Fanwood ice hockey team suffered two more one-sided losses, one to old rival Westfield and the other to new rival Woodbridge, but were finally able to pull off a 5-2 victory against a struggling Hightstown squad.

With the Raiders' overall record falling to 3-13-2, making the state playoffs will have to wait until next year, but the play of freshman Jared Figueroa could be something for the Raiders to look forward to. Figueroa notched a hat-trick against Hightstown as the Raiders displayed their best passing of the season. Figueroa started off the scoring in the first period with an assist from senior forward Eric Hogan, but Hightstown was able to tie it up before the period ended. Figueroa scored again to put the Raiders ahead in the second, getting a slick assist from Hogan and senior Tyler Hardgrove who was switched to forward from defense for the game. Hightstown tied it up early in the third, but Hardgrove put the Raiders ahead for good when he put in a rebound of a slap-shot from senior defensemen Kurtis Wisniewski with less than two minutes left in the contest. Two more top-shelf goals by Hogan and Figueroa iced the win and the Raiders and their fans could finally exhale.

The Raiders have a full week ahead with games against Johnson, Woodbridge and Summit as they look to build on their improved play and gain some momentum heading into the end-of-season county tournament where anything could happen. You can follow the Raider Icers and check their schedule on their website at www.spficehockey.com and follow all of New Jersey high school ice hockey on www.njhockey.org.

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This article also appeared in the February 6th edition of The Scotch Plains Fanwood Times.

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