December 23 - The Scotch Plains Fanwood High School Raider ice hockey team got a taste of winning over the holiday break, notching a 2-1 win on Monday the 23rd, against the Colonia Patriots but it didn’t last long. A post holiday crash resulted in a 10-1 defeat to Ocean Township on Thursday the 26th. With no time to recover, the Raiders then suffered a 5-2 loss to the Monroe Falcons on Friday the 27th.
The Raiders’ record stood at 1-3-1 going into the three game stretch; the Icers were ready to start turning things around and set the tempo for the rest of the season. Looking to get at least two wins, it started off well with the Icers putting in a nice defensive effort against Colonia. Senior goalie Alex Montagna turned aside all but one of the Patriots’ shots and Davey Leong was on fire, scoring two goals for the Raiders. The day after Christmas was not so kind though as the Spartans scored 7 goals before the Raiders could answer once to the Ocean goalie. Four more Spartan goals in the third period and the Raiders had to swallow a tough 10-1 loss.
Looking to get the bad taste out of their mouths, the Raiders took on the Monroe Falcons the next night and goals by juniors John Bruckman and Davey Leong tied the score at 2-2 in the second period. Two minutes into the third period though, the Spartans forged ahead 3-2 and they put the game out of reach, scoring with 4 minutes left in the game. An empty-netter at the buzzer gave the Falcons their 5-2 win.
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The Raiders will have a mountain to climb to get back on the winning track with their next games against #6 state-ranked Summit Hilltoppers on Friday, Jan 3rd at Union Sports Arena at 4:10 pm and the perennially strong Westfield Blue Devils on Wednesday, Jan 8 at Warinanco at 8:30 pm. You can follow the Raider Icers at www.leaguelineup.com/spficehockey and all NJ high school hockey at www.njhockey.org.
