Johnson Regional Ices Scotch Plains in Union County Cup

You can see the improvement each and every time the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High hockey team hits the ice, which is a credit to their dedication and perseverance.

Unfortunately, that still wasn't enough to overcome Johnson Regional last night in the quarterfinal round of the Union County Cup. The final score was 6-1.

"We played our hardest game of the year," said the Raiders Adam Terry. "We did the best we could with the ten guys that we had. We had our captain missing (Terence White). We had one of our forwards missing. We played all our players and did the best we could." 

The Raiders were battling hard and kept it close for awhile, trailing 1-0 in the second period when Andrew Skoog scored off an assist by Ed Logie to tie the game at 1-1 halfway through the frame. But the Crusaders kept the pressure on and were finally able to put the game away.

"This was the game we targeted since the beginning of the year," said SP-F head coach Matt Gualtieri. "We knew we were in for a struggle, so our goal was to get better every game, every day, every practice. We had some adversity throughout the year. We had some injury, some illness to some of our better players, which makes it tough. With only 15 players, we've had our backs against a wall. For us to come out and compete in this game and give them a little scare, it was nice."

Johnson Head Coach Mike Nudo admitted that the Raiders put up a fight.

"It was a tough battle," he said. "Scotch Plains is a young program. They always come out hard. The goalie is unbelievable over there. I'm not going to enjoy seeing him the next three years."

The key for the Raiders is to keep positive in the off-season.

"We're all good, we all try to help each other out," said sophomore Kevin Lewis. "Basically just focus on maintaining our goal, keep trying to win and help everyone do the best they can."

"We have a lot of heart," added Gualtieri. "The kids were committed. This is probably the most focused we've seen them. One of the things we were worried about was if they'd be too tight for a big game. We told them beforehand, all you guys are athletes, this is what you love, the big stage, this is what you thrive on, and we had a lot of guys who showed up tonight. We only lose one guy that played tonight, so we're looking forward to the future."