VIDEO-Raiders Fall To Mahwah In Tense Battle

Mahwah defeated Ramapo 1-0 at Mennan Arena Saturday afternoon in a defensive battle that was marked with a number of inconsistent penalties.

In the first period Ramapo was called for a hit from behind which seemed somewhat questionable. Cory Sala received ‘two and ten’ which means that the team is short a man for two minutes and the offending player remains in the penalty box for a full ten minutes.

Both teams battled through penalty kills with Mahwah getting the edge on power play opportunities, but neither team could break through the other team’s goaltender.

Early in the third period, Dylan Roberts received a two minute penalty for head contact . Ramapo Head Coach Lee Barber said after the game,  “It’s a zero zero game, you gotta let ‘em play”.  Just as the penalty time was winding down Mahwah sophomore Joe Noonan was knocked to the ice and still managed to make a perfect pass to classmate Luke May who managed to sneak one through Carl Boomhower.

Ramapo played desperation hockey for the remainder of the third period but failed to get anything by Mahwah goalie Sean Scannell who was equally desperate to keep the fragile one to nothing lead. The Mahwah defense came to his rescue several times in the closing minutes as he scrambled back in position.

Mahwah Head Coach Kevin Sabella had good things to say about his the Ramapo effort. “Hats off to Ramapo. They had a good game plan for us.” He was especially pleased with Luke May who has come through for them all year.

Lee Barber was clearly disappointed with the loss and the inconsistency of some of the calls but he was impressed with his team’s effort this year and he gave Mahwah full credit. “They played a great game.”

Hoarse from the previous game against Kinnelon, Lee said, “We’ve had a great journey with these kids, especially the seniors. We’re really going to miss them.” Carl Boomhower was proud of his teammates who fought hard and just came up short. “I’m proud of the guys…they gave it their all…It’s not like we lost cause we weren’t trying…we just got beat.”

Mahwah will face either Chatham or Ramsey on Wednesday night at 8:00 PM at Codey Arena (South Mountain)  in the Semifinals. The winner of that game moves on to the finals at the Prudential Center on Sunday.