Rauter Leads Chatham to a Hard-Fought Tie

Despite its best efforts,  the Chatham High ice hockey team could only muster a 2-2 tie against Pingry Thursday.

Junior forward Alex Rauter scored two goals for the Cougars only to see Pingry tie the game late in the second period in Thursday's game at Bridgewater Sports Arena.

Pingry forward Nick Branchina scored on a wrist shot past Chatham goalie Jordan Boles at the 12:00 mark of the second period to cut Chatham's lead to 2-1. Pingry then tied the game 40 seconds later when defenseman Matt Beattie scored on a breakaway.

"We have a huge rivalry with them so it stinks that we could only get the tie," Rauter said. "We had the 2-0 lead for a good chunk of the game and then after two defensive lapses the game was tied."

Rauter opened the game's scoring early when he put a shot past Pingry goalie Vincent Lima at the 4:30 mark of the first period. Chatham had plenty of scoring chances throughout the period, outshooting Pingry, 12-8. Lima made 11 saves for Pingry in the period, preventing Chatham from taking a commanding lead early. Lima finished the game with 23 saves on the 25 shots he faced.

Rauter then put the Cougars ahead, 2-0, when he scored a breakaway goal at the 2:30 mark of the second period. The goal was his eighth of the season and second of the game. Rauter credited a lot of his success to playing alongside junior Danny Casey.

"Danny and I have been playing great together, he really gives me some great pucks," Rauter said. "I have to make sure I make the most of those opportunities."

The Cougars were out-shot by Pingry 19-14 over the final two periods but Boles stood tall for Chatham holding the tie. The Cougars needed Boles to play strong when they were called for a penalty entering the third period. Boles and the defense killed off the power play. Boles finished with 26 saves on the 28 shots he faced.

Chatham was able to control the tempo for most of the game, which was the Cougars' game plan coming in.

"We really wanted to try to control the puck in their zone but we missed out on some scoring chances," Chatham head coach Harvey Cohen said. "We are pretty disappointed with the tie because we played well except for two minutes and those two minutes came back to haunt us."

The tie gives Chatham a record of 3-0-2 and makes Pingry's record 4-0-1. Chatham takes the ice again on Saturday against Mendham High School.

"We just have to work on playing a complete game," Cohen said. "We have to play a full 45 minutes and not just 43."