Cougars Fall Short Against Raiders

The Cranford ice hockey team played an improved brand of hockey on Friday night, but still could not get past Hillsborough, 2-1, in an independent game on the road at ProTec Ponds in Somerset.

It came down to the last four minutes of the game, when the Cougars saw a tip in from Hillsborough's Dan Caguisto that got past Cranford junior goalie Trevor Hertz and broke up the one-all tie.

Both goals for the Raiders came of the power play variety including five seconds before the winning goal. Cougars Tom Fitzgerald was sent away for two minutes.

"I think we played better tonight, but they had the two power play goals and that was the difference," said Cranford head coach Rich Hurley.

It was a far better outcome than the opener that saw the Cougars lose 10-1 to a Chatham on Wednesday night.

The odds were stacked against Cranford Friday night. The team was down by four players, who are out with a variety of ailments. One of the missing players was senior defenseman Eddie Conte, one of the team's top blue linesmen, who broke his kneecap recently in a scrimmage against Princeton and will be out for six weeks. The Cougars' offense was also missing its top scorer junior Eric Pawlick with a broken finger. Sophomore Jake Zimmerman and freshman Danny Murphy were missing from the lineup as well.

"We had a lot of guys get plenty of ice time that would not have," said Hurley. "We'll weather the storm and have young guys filling in spots."

If it was still the 2008-09 team, Hurley might have struggled in filling in for the injured players, but this season he has a nice crop of underclassmen. While the injuries hurt the squad, in the end run, it might help the younger players get more experience on the ice.

The Raiders dominated the game as they kept the puck in the Cranford end, but the combination of the Cougars defense and the play of goaltender Trevor Hertz kept Cranford in the game.

Overall, Cranford was outshot 28-13.

"We played well in front of the net and kept them from getting most of the shots from the outside," said Hurley. "Hertz did a very good job in not allowing rebounds."

The Cougars led in the first period after right winger Trevor Fitzgerald potted a goal with the help of freshman defenseman Sean  Feeney to give Cranford a 1-0 lead less than four minutes into the game.

But Hillsboro took advantage of one of the four Cranford penalties six minutes later and got the equalizer when junior Billy Davitt went into the penalty box for boarding.

As the second and third periods passed, Hertz kept Hillsborough from going ahead with several quality saves.

Offensively, the Cougars could not get much going as they turned over the puck. Hurley said that there were just too many gaps between the forwards and defensemen.

Cranford will get a taste of the Union County League teams on Monday as they take on Westfield in the Cron Tournament at Warinanco Park at 8:30 p.m. Along with being a rival, the Blue Devils are also one of the teams that are favored to win the Union County League.