Loss Doesn't Damper Watchung Hills Seniors' Spirit

The seniors on the ice hockey team may not remember the final score on senior night, but they'll always remember the times they donned the Warrior crest.

While they came out with a spirited effort in the opening minutes of the game, it wasn’t enough, as the team fell to Montgomery by a final score of 7-3 on Saturday night at Union Sports Arena. Warriors head coach Justin Kaufman thought they hung tough, but that it wasn’t enough to get a victory.

“Overall, throughout the game we pretty much held our own with these guys,” the coach said.  “I think what ultimately killed us were a couple mental mistakes and some bad bounces.  There was a play where one of their kids went through four of our guys…you can’t have that and win a game.”

Early on, it was all Warriors as they netted two goals in the opening four minutes.

“We had a lot of momentum, everything was clicking out there. We played with a little more [heart] than last time,”  said senior forward Connor Blake, one of the team captains.

“We’re all realizing that the season’s coming to an end and with senior night, everyone was supporting us out there to just have a good game,” added Blake, who Kaufman praised for battling injuries and illnesses this year.

But as the season winds down, the seniors got a chance to think about what their time has meant at Watchung Hills. 

“Sweet journey—I love high school hockey, it’s one of the greatest sports ever.  I love it…so much fun,” said senior forward captain Paul Kim, who was a “major piece of the puzzle,” according to Kaufman, for the 2008 hockey team that reached the state championship.

“It’s had its ups and downs. Pretty good—sad it’s almost over,” said Maffei, who spent the last two years with the varsity club and made tremendous improvements.

Even someone like Damato, a forward Kaufman said he wished he had for a few more years, who learned how to ice skate three weeks before the season started, savored his time on the ice.

“I came into this year trying to play, gave everything I had," Damato said. "I just help every play out there.  Coach sees something he likes in me, so I just take it to them.”

Senior backup goalie Thomas Chavez said he is driven by his passion for the game of hockey.

“I haven’t gotten to play much this season so I just wanted to make the most of it because I’m a senior,”  Chavez said.  “My career is almost over, I’m just trying to have fun and help the team.  It’s hard work.  I put in a lot of time and effort.  I just love playing hockey.” 

“It’s meant a lot to me [the time on the team].  I put my heart and soul into it.  We come in here everyday, ready to play.  I do what I can do for the team,” said Tedesco, a captain along with Kim and Blake.

Looking ahead after a tough season, Kaufman sees the team rebuilding but getting stronger.

“Our goalie is young, so is our backup.  Overall, we are a young core,” Kaufman said.  “Next year we’ll only have two or three seniors.  We’ll have to stick to a more disciplined style of play.  We tend to rely on individuals to do things.  We’ll sit back and watch.  And that sometimes in a way has the opposite effect.

“We have a young team and we’ll have some ups and downs too, hopefully more ups," Kaufman continued. "We haven’t made it to the playoffs in three years.  It’s difficult.  When you get to the top, the state championship…there’s only one way to go and that’s down. We’re in a rebuilding process.”

A big body check by Kim on a Montgomery defenseman just a minute in fueled the Warriors (3-10) on Saturday.  Just under a minute later, Kim came down the right wing and let a rocket go from the bottom of the right circle that found the back of the net as it glanced off iron, making it 1-0 just 1:50 in. 

Damato made it 2-0 as he banged home a loose puck in front of Montgomery goalie Zach Schiavo, putting Watchung Hills up 2-0 at the 3:48 mark. 

“It is our senior night.  The kids were playing hard for that reason,” Kaufman said. “Also, Montgomery is a rivalry and I think we came out strong and ready to play hockey.  They were looking to play and that’s what showed in the first five minutes.”

But after that, things turned sour for the Warriors.  At 9:55, Maffei was called for hooking.  A minute into the power play, Montgomery (14-6) got on the board as Kevin Wanke scored in a scramble in front of the goalmouth.

Less than 30 seconds later, Montgomery’s Jeff Garinger broke through on a breakaway, was denied originally by Warrior goalie Pat Engelsmen, but then put home the rebound try, making it 2-2 at the 6:45 mark. 

Less than a minute later, Watchung failed to clear a puck in its own end and Luc Esposito found the back of the net, giving Montgomery its first lead at 3-2. 

Kaufman, who elected to give Chavez a shot, pulled Engelsmen. With just under five minutes to go in the period, Montgomery extended its lead as Brian Papsin ripped one home from the slot right off a faceoff, boosting the Montgomery lead to 4-2. 

Kaufman said that the snowball effect has hampered his team’s play this year.

“Story of our season. We’re up by one or down by one…the other team pops the puck in and we tend to second-guess ourselves," he said. "We tend to think, rather than react.  In hockey, the second you start thinking…it’ll bury you.”

In the second period, the Warriors asserted themselves a little more but it didn’t show on the scoreboard, as the Cougars scored twice more. 

A boarding call followed 23 seconds later by a tripping penalty resulted in a Montgomery power-play goal and a 5-2 advantage. Maxx Berteletti extended the Cougars' lead to 6-2 heading into the final period.

“We took it to them, they scored a couple of quick goals and what happens every other game is…we get down, our heads get out of the game.  We needed to keep taking it to them,” Damato said.

“We picked it up, we stayed with them the whole game,” senior defenseman Tim Tedesco said.  “We were even in shots.  I think we played good hockey, couple bad bounces went their way.  We had our chances.”

Montgomery converted on another power play before Connor Dempsey ended the scoreless drought for the Warriors with his tally with just 1:31 left in the game.

“At this level, there’s 45 minutes of hockey to be played, you can't play five minutes,” Kaufman said. “You can’t play little spurts here and there, you’ll lose.  We’re not playing consistent 45 minutes of hockey.”

Watchung’s next game is Tuesday at Bridgewater at 7:20 p.m.