Raiders Ice Hockey Scores First Win of Season

The Scotch Plains-Fanwood ice hockey team notched their first victory of the season Tuesday night, defeating visiting J.P. Stevens 5-3, thanks to a solid two-goal effort by Alex Markovitz, sensational goaltending by freshman Jason Breit and a key injury to the J.P. Stevens netminder.

"It felt good to get our first win," Markovitz said. "It felt good to get my first two goals here. We got a lucky break with their goalie getting injured, but I still thought we picked up the intensity near the end of the game."

"I think our guys were pretty upbeat afterwards," added head coach Matt Gualtieri.  "It's just such a strange game. They didn't really celebrate like I thought they would. That's good in a way, that they're not getting too carried away with it. They played better in some of the other games that we lost. Sometimes you take a game like this."

With the Raiders trailing 2-0 in the first period on a pair of goals by Mike Russi, Stevens goaltender David Laub had to leave the game with five minutes to go in the period due to injury, and with no backup, the visitors played the next nine minutes with an extra skater until a player suited up to play goal.

That's when the Raiders turned it on, scoring three goals in less than three minutes to take the lead, the first on an unassisted tally by Steve Rachko to cut the lead to 2-1. Less than two minutes later, Rachko took a pass from Ed Logie and put it home to tie the game at 2-2, before Markovitz ripped a shot into the net at the 13:55 mark of the second period to give SP-F a 3-2 lead.

"They had a sixth skater, as if they pulled the goalie, and then one of their defenseman got dressed and came out," Gualtieri said. "Give the kid credit, he did an admirable job. We got three quick ones and then he settled down and made some big saves."

The Raiders came out in the third stanza and added to their lead when Markovitz scored again, a little over four minutes into the frame, off an assist from Andrew Skoog. But J.P. Stevens continued to fight back, cutting the deficit to one when center Andrew Harenlian scored to make it 4-3.

With the Hawks on a power play, Raiders goalie Jason Breit shined again, making several huge saves to keep his team in front. SP-F received some breathing room thanks to an Adam Terry goal with less than two minutes left in the game, locking up that long awaited Raiders victory, but it was Breit who had to hold the fort in the final moments.

"I was just hoping we could ice the puck, clear it out, and hold them to 4-3," Breit said. "I didn't think we'd score. But in the end, it's 5-3 and we got the win."

Breit, who has been playing goalie since first grade, always dreamed of playing for the high school and is making the most of his chance.

"I've been playing travel, so I havn't been taking as many shots," he said. "These teams are good that we're playing. I think we'll get better over the years. It's fun getting a lot of shots. I'm working my butt off. It's tough, but I'm having fun."

"He's been coming up huge the whole season." added Gualtieri. "You'd never know by the scores that we had. He's kept us in games. Saturday against G.L., it was 3-2 after one, it could have easily been 8-2. He's been there for us all season. We expect that out of him, even though he's a freshman. It's a lot of burden on his shoulders, but he seems mature enough to handle it."

The Raiders will now look ahead to Woodbridge, another tough team from Middlesex County, who they face Friday night.

"Right now, I think we'll build off this win for the game on Friday against Woodbridge, which is a game we can win," Markovitz said. "We'll just keep moving from there. All of our heads are up today. We're all happy, cheering in the locker room. It's all good."