Vitale, Ismaili Each Record Hat Tricks on Senior Night

Senior Night is a time to reflect on past memories and make some new ones.

The ice hockey team certainly had a performance to remember in a 13-0 rout of Madison in two periods Saturday at ProTechHockey Ponds Ice Center in Somerset.

“We’ve been waiting all year for this kind of offense.  It was good to get everyone some playing time,” Hillsborough head coach Joe Bennett said. 

“We haven’t really put away any teams," senior Jeff Killian added. "It means a lot to score a lot in a single game.  Everyone, even the younger guys, scored on different lines.  It was pretty cool."

The scoring barrage began when Colton Faddish banged home a rebound in front of the goal just over three minutes into the game. The Raiders extended their lead with goals from Chris DiGerolamo, Alex Vitale and Craig Ismaili for a commanding 4-0 advantage at the end of the first period.

Vitale and Ismaili each completed a hat trick with two goals apiece in the second period, while Mike LaNeve, Kyle Powers, Brett Siegrist, Kyle Burke and Phil Dunbar each tallied once to round out the scoring.

Bobby Palzer and Danny Garb each split time in net for the Raiders.

On Senior Night, some of them got to reflect on their time playing for the team.

“It’s tradition," Ismaili said. "That was the biggest thing in my four years.  We all stuck together.  It’s a really big deal to put on a Hillsborough jersey."

“It means a lot," Siegrist said. "We’ve had our ups and downs. We’re finally starting to come back.  This year...we’re hoping to go all the way."

With the conference tournament and tournaments on the way, the Raiders said they have a lot to work to do.

“It’s going to be rough.  There are five real legitimate teams that could really take it, so it’s going to be tough from the start,” Bennett said. “There’s no easy games in this conference.  You got to be ready to go.”

“Finishing….scoring goals.  We got it done tonight,” Killian said. “We are getting the chances every game…sometimes they don’t go in.  All we got to do is finish and I think we’ll be OK.”

“Defense...its been our big problem this year," Siegrist said. "We’re not putting a lot of pucks in the net so if we play good D, we’ll win games."

Hillsborough’s next game is in the first round of the Skyland Cup tournament.  The Raiders will take on Bridgewater-Raritan Monday at Bridgewater Sports Arena at 4 p.m..