A young Cranford ice hockey team took on the veteran squad from Westfield and found that experience is a big edge, especially this early in the season.
The Blue Devils iced the Cougars by a final of 7-2 in the first round of the 2009 George Cron Ice Hockey Tournament at Warinanco Park in Elizabeth Monday night.
The Blue Devils, now 3-0 on the season, were led by top-liners C.J. Meyer and Nick Attanasio, who had two goals each. Westfield jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on Meyer's goal at the 2:50 mark, before Matt Wronski followed that up less than two minutes later on an assist from Oliver Bevan. Cranford then settled down a bit, putting some pressure on Westfield's sophomore goalie Steve Wronski, who came up with several key saves late in the first period.
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Westfield outshot the Cougars 16-8 in the first, as goalie Mike Williams came up with big stops on several occasions to keep the game close. Westfield coach Dennis Doherty expected a solid showing, although he would like to see a more complete effort as the season wears on.
"It's a continuation of the way we've been playing the beginning of the season," said Doherty. "Once again, we had a great first period, a so-so second period and came out with guns blazing in the third. We're still waiting to play the complete game."
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Meyer notched his second goal :57 into the second stanza on assists from Attanasio and Colin Fitzhenry to move the lead to 3-0. Attanasio then put one in the back of the net past Cranford goalie Mike Williams off assists from Meyer and Joe Kramkowski to stretch the lead to 4-0.
"I thought we came out and played very well tonight," said Attanasio. "Our goal is to come out and score early, put the pressure on, and that's exactly what we've been doing since the beginning of the season."
The Cougars got on the board at the 5:04 mark when James Nicoli took a pass from Alex Plick via Jake Zimmerman and put one past Westfield's Steven Wronski to cut the lead to 4-1 at the end of the second period.
Westfield then added two more in the third, when Meyer and Henry O'Brien assisted on Attanasio's second goal at the 5:52 mark. Cranford then wrapped up the scoring when Erik Pawlick found the net at 14:18 on assists by Wes Ditzel and Sean Feeney. Pawlick continues to prove he's one of the best players in Union County.
Westfield outshot Cranford 36-23, although the Cougars had an 8-7 edge in the final period.
While Cranford was playing without several key players due to injury, giving a few talented freshmen more of an opportunity, the outcome was exactly what Westfield expected, based on the experience throughout the lineup.
"We only graduated two impact players from last year," saidDoherty. "So we're returning the whole core up front at forward and all our defense and our goaltending, so this is what we were expecting".
Cranford will face Parsippany in the consolation round on Thursday December 10 at 6 p.m. also at Warinanco.
