West Orange High School Hockey Team Headed To States

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of the West Orange Public School District. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.

The West Orange High School Hockey Team continues to build their legacy, and their 5-1 victory over Bayonne on Feb. 5 qualified them for a trip to the states.

“The Bayonne win was a great effort from my team,” said Head Coach Eddie Scafidi. “Everyone who hit the ice gave maximum effort.”

“We knew we were playing a great goalie, Sydney Fogu, so our strategy was to wear her down,” he continued.

“The game was tied 1-1 going into the third period. Dominic Locricchio scored a short-handed goal early in the third to give us the lead. Reid Tenzer scored on a rebound to give us a two-goal lead and give us a little breathing room. Jack Olsen scored an empty-net goal, his second goal of the game, to extend the lead. The game ended when Anthony Pondillo scored his first career goal with one second left and the team erupted into celebration,” Scafidi explained.

“We were able to score four goals in the third, all from wearing their goalie down. Jack Olsen and Dominic Locricchio up front did a great job of keeping the pressure on the Bayonne goalie the whole game. Our defense, Anthony Podillo, Eitan Nativ, Andrew Raymon, and Ayan Flowers did a great job stopping Bayonne’s best player. The defense kept Bayonne’s shot total down, making the game easier for our goalie Jackson Pruksarnukul, who was solid in a close game,” he went on to say.

The team currently stands with a 7-6-3 record in the NJHIIL McMullen division. The development of the hockey team is a testament to the efforts of Mountaintop League and West Orange High School, who partnered to develop a competitive program over the past several years. In fact, many of the athletes on the WOHS Hockey team were part of the MTL program.

Covid-19 presented several challenges. The team had three leads late in the game and ended up settling for ties. “But we know we have a young roster where most of our playing time comes from freshmen and juniors,” noted Scafidi.

Missing three weeks in a hockey season is like starting over and it took the team a few weeks to get into a good rhythm. They are now on a three-game winning streak, finishing third in the conference only a few points out of first.

“We’ve had an incredibly successful season, and it’s been so long since we qualified for states. I’m very proud of the team,” concluded Scafidi.

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