Westfield boys varsity hockey team wraps up successful season

With every win in tournament hockey the excitement grows, as does the potential for disappointment. It’s a sword that cut both ways on the Westfield 2018-2019 boys ice hockey team in the New Jersey high school state tournament this year.

The Blue Devils entered the Group B tournament as the #3 seed with a “why not us?!” mentality and almost delivered a state championship to Dubfield Nation. After defeating Manalapan in opening round play Westfield hosted the Princeton Little Tigers in the quarterfinals. Senior Anthony Oliveri and Freshman Matt Beke both scored two goals to lead the offense. Senior Tommy Duffy and junior Trevor Tanella also pitched in with a gino apiece. Senior captain goalie CJ Duffy was stout in net and the Blue Devils cruised to a 6-3 victory.

The win over Princeton led to a date with the Ridge High School Red Devils in the semifinals. After playing to a tie earlier in the season it was no surprise that the high stakes tilt would be tight between the two evenly balanced squads. The game remained tied at 0-0 through the first two periods. Midway through the third Ridge broke through to take a 1-0 lead.

The Blue Devils remained composed and responded. With less than two minutes remaining freshman Thomas Conrod pumped home the equalizer after some gritty work by senior John Humiston and Tanella who provided the assists. Suddenly the white-knuckle affair was headed to overtime. Unfortunately for Westfield the finals were not meant to be as Ridge was able to get at tip in goal past Duffy for the win.

Short-term disappointment, but in retrospect a fantastic season. Captain CJ Duffy, and alternate captains senior Alex Park and Tanella led the team. Outstanding team influence came from other seniors on the squad: Timmy Rosa, Petey Buontempo, and Zach Peterson. Head coach Joe Bertucci, and assistant coaches George Giresi, Spencer Truesdell and Brendan Hickey managed the team masterfully all season.

Some of the team highlights from the season included:

• Making history as McInnis Conference Champions for the first time, defeating rival and the state champion Summit Hilltoppers in the process
• Earned the #3 seed in the NJ state Public B (group of death) tournament
• Westfield concludes one of its most successful seasons to date at 17-6-3 and ranked #18 in the state by NJ.com

Individual honors achieved by the players:

• Trevor Tanella – 1st team all-conference (McInnis) and named one of the top 50 juniors in the state
• CJ Duffy – 2nd team all-conference (McInnis) and named one of the top 50 seniors in the state.
• Alex Park – Honorable mention all-conference (McInnis)
• Anthony Oliveri – Honorable mention all-conference (McInnis) and was an Allstate athlete of the week
• John Humiston – Named NJIIHL Conference player of the week
• Will Gamba - Named one of the top 50 juniors in the state and was an Allstate athlete of the week

As the season came to a close the Westfield High School boys varsity hockey team recalled the words of the immortal Dr. Seuss, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” The program is already looking forward to next season – here we go boys…

During the off-season follow the WHS boys ice hockey teams on Twitter @westfieldpuck and WHSpuck on FaceBook and Instagram. See the website for more www.westfieldhockey.com.