On the Ice: LHS Comes Up Short Against Montclair

Both Montclair and Livingston ice hockey teams headed into the third period tied at one on Saturday at the South Mountain Arena.

But while the Lancers controlled the puck in the Mounties side of the rink for most of the first two periods, Montclair was able to turn the corner in the third period and scored four unanswered goals en route to a 5-1 victory over Livingston.

Montclair raised its record to 6-2 while the Lancers dropped to 4-7-1. The win gave the Mounties a sweep of the regular season series with the Lancers. Montclair defeated Livingston, 2-0, on Dec. 1 in Montclair.

Mounties junior Evan Janifer scored a hat trick with his third goal coming with three minutes left in the game to end the scoring. That goal finished off a blitz on Livingston goalie Brian Lilien.

As it turned out it was freshman Ryan Vanderford who scored the game winner that came a little more than two minutes into the third period. “Evan (Janifer) was able to pull (Livingston’s) Michael Philpott to him and open me up,” said Vanderford, who had two assists, about his goal. “I just hit it low on the goalie.”

In addition to getting the New Jersey Ice Hockey League Central division win, it was also a big victory for Montclair after losing the Montclair Cup to Montclair Kimberley, 3-0, on Wednesday night. “This gives us a lot of confidence,” said Vanderford. “In my opinion this was huge and Montclair Kimberley is our biggest rival.”

Vanderford added head coach Pat Verney’s talk between the second and third period was all about being more aggressive and going to the net. “He told us that we need to start getting to the net and setting up opportunities,” said Vanderford.

And the pep talk definitely worked.

A  little more than three minutes later, Sam Shatz fed a driving Janifer towards Lilien and snuck it by the Lancers goalie for a 3-1 lead .

And Montclair continued the blitz only 30 seconds later when Mounties defenseman Anthony Paradiso would get the puck at center ice and drive by several Lancers skaters to knock a shot past Lilien that stunned the Livingston fans for a 4-1 lead with less than nine minutes left in the game.

Along with the offensive blitz in the third period, Montclair again received a quality game from goalie Brendan Gaetjens, who made 23 saves on the night with many key stops, especially in the first two periods.

Gaetjens, though, gave up the first goal to Livingston in four periods when one of the Lancers' top scorers, Jonny Garfinkel, finally figured out the Montclair goalie— at least for this one shot. With Garfinkel’s goal, assisted by Tai Finberg and Hirschorn, the Lancers drew first blood with less than three minutes left in the first period.

In the second period, Montclair did not get the equalizer until Livingston was served a couple of penalties. With Livingston’s Andrew Hirschorn in the box for tripping, and the Mounties on the power play, Janifer came along the left side of Lilien and shot it past the freshman goalie over the left shoulder to tie it with seven minutes left in the second period.

While the goal gave Montclair momentum in the second period, it wasn’t until the third period when the Mounties started gaining the advantage.

The Lancers will try to end the five-game losing streak on Monday night against Millburn at South Mountain Arena. The game begins at 4:30 p.m.