Hockey Drops Game to Nutley

The momentum appeared to be in Livingston's end heading into the third period against Nutley on Friday night at Codey Arena.  But as fast as the Lancers ice hockey team gained momentum, they lost it.  In the end, they were defeated.

Lancer Drew Wagner poked a shot past Nutley goalie Matt Rasp in the last second of the second period after a scramble in front of the Maroon Raiders goalie.  The goal tied the game at one as both teams headed to the locker room, upsetting the Nutley staff as well as Rasp, who smashed his goalie stick against the boards.

"We had a lot of momentum and were pumped up going into the third period," said Livingston head coach Dave Conklin. "We talked a lot after the second period of what we have to do."

But the momentum that the Lancers worked so hard to get did not last long as Nutley's Warren Gross took advantage of Livingston mistakes in their own zone and fired it past Lancer goalie Abe Matar for a 2-1 Nutley lead with just 90 seconds into the third period.

The landslide would continue and the Lancers fell 5-1 to the Maroon Raiders.  The loss dropped Livingston to 4-6-2 for the season.

"We stopped doing the little things and covering the men in front. We stopped skating," said Conklin.  "In this division, you have to play 45 minutes of hockey and that was a perfect example of that tonight."

After Nutley went up 2-1, a couple of Lancer opportunities went missed. Nutley capitalized on Livingston not being able to get it out of their end;  Nutley's Dave Fierro knocked it by Matar, increasing the Lancers deficit to 3-1 with a little more than 10 minutes left in the game.

Conklin took a timeout, which seemed to energize the Lancers.  But Livingston could not finish off their opportunities. Outside of Wagner's goal, Livingston had plenty of opportunities, all missed.

"They (Nutley defensemen) did a good job in stopping our rebounds," said Conklin.

While the Lancers offense could not get the rebounds, it was just the opposite for Nutley.

"We had two defensemen in back of the net and we were not communicating," said Conklin about one of the Nutley goals.

Livingston will have another tough test on Sunday against Verona.

"We have to get back to work and do the little things," said Conklin.

Despite the 5-1 loss to Nutley, the Lancers know that with just a couple of maneuvers, Livingston could have a couple more wins.

"It's unfortunate because we're close to being a good team and we need the kids to step up," said Conklin.