Hockey: Ridge captures victory against conference rival Pingry

BRIDGEWATER - Unexpected back-to-back ties last week left the Ridge High School ice hockey team with no wiggle room on Wednesday afternoon in its Skyland Conference regular-season finale.

The Red Devils knew they needed to beat The Pingry School at Bridgewater Sports Arena or finish second in the  regular-season title race.

Ties against Hillsborough and Watchung Hills had made it a win or else scenario for the defending two-time conference and returning Public A champs. Pingry could even win the title by tying Ridge and beating Montgomery in its final league game.

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But that game will now be meaningless to Ridge.

The Red Devils overcame a 1-0 deficit with three unanswered goals to capture a 4-2 victory and a top seed for the  Skyland Cup Tournament, which begins Feb. 12. Ridge (12-3-5) finished the league season at 10-0-4, while Pingry stands at 10-2-1 with both losses against Ridge and a game against Montgomery left.

Ridge beat the Big Blue 4-1 on Jan. 19, but while Pingry (12-3-1) defeated Watchung Hills and Hunterdon Central in its next two games, Ridge tied against Watchung Hills and Hillsborough.

Ridge was coming off of a 5-5 tie against Hillsborough last Friday, in which the Red Devils led 5-1 after two periods.

“I think that (Hillsborough) game was definitely an eye-opener for us,” said Ridge standout junior forward Alex Konovalov, who scored the game-sealing goal and assisted on the Red Devils' third goal on Wednesday. “It definitely turned the season around. It gave us kind of a feel that we can't take any team lightly, no matter how far behind they are in the standings. We have to play 100 percent every single shift. We've got to play three full periods of hockey, and we can't take anybody lightly.”

Pingry carried play in the scoreless first period with Ridge being credited for only four shots. Freshman Jared Kordonsky gave the Big Blue a 1-0 lead 1:06 into the second. Ridge struck on goals by Connor Villa and Liam Tormley 55 seconds apart late in the second to go ahead.

“It took a little while to get into it, but we were doing some good things and then finally we got a shot from the point and some traffic in front and we got rewarded for it,” Ridge assistant coach John Gerke said. 

“It was good to see our team not get down,” Tormey said of falling behind 1-0. “Like in the Hillsborough game, they got those two quick goals and we just broke down. It was good to see today that after they scored that first goal, nobody was down or put their heads down. We just got to work, which is what we need moving forward.”

The Hillsborough collapse impacted the entire team.

“We stressed especially after the Hillsborough third period that you have to continue to work hard, keep working hard and when you practice well and work hard good things happen and translate to games,” Gerke said. “We stuck with it.”

Tyler Ebeling gave Ridge a 3-1 lead 1:25 into the third period, but Pingry drew within 3-2 when Matt Keller scored with 4:31 left. Ridge senior goalie Chris Ambrozy saw some pressure from there on, but didn’t relent. He finished with 22 saves.

“Of course we were thinking about (the Hillsborough game),” Tormey said. “After (Keller’s goal) went in, we knew we just had to bear down and go back to how we were playing. We couldn't let that get in our head.” 

Pingry eventually pulled keeper Peter Papadopoulos, but the Big Blue iced the puck so Papadopoulos had to return for the faceoff in the Pingry end. Konovalov then roofed a shot past the sophomore keeper with 1:04 left to make it 4-2.

“We are playing two freshmen on our top line, two freshmen on defense. We have a sophomore goalie. We have a lot of young guys who just haven’t had experience in a big game like this,” Pingry coach Scott Garrow said. “We talked a lot about it after we beat (Hunterdon Central, a 2-0 win Monday), that this would be for first place and let’s treat it like a championship game, and let’s get some practice in on how you’re going to feel in big spots. I thought we responded very well.”