Photo courtesy of William Jackson.
The Ramapo ice hockey team followed up its largest victory of the season — a 20-0 win against Stony Brook — with their most important win of the year: a 5-1 victory at Quinnipiac. The Bobcats entered play first in the Empire Division with a 14-1-0 record and were looking for a season sweep against Ramapo. The Roadrunners, on the other hand, were looking to avenge an overtime loss at home against Quinnipiac from back in October, and they did just that.
Ramapo welcomed back senior forward Gary “Goose” Ragusa for this game after a two-month long absence with a neck injury. Ragusa was able to tally the first assist and the eventual game-winning goal. Junior forward Peter Paszkiel followed his four-goal performance against Stony Brook with another late goal during a 4-on-3 power play at the end of regulation. Senior defenseman Holden Gruber scored his first two goals of the season, while alternate captain Christopher Dressler added one goal.
Goalie Dennis McGarry continued his incredible season, saving 41 of 42 shots. Among goalies with at least 10 starts, McGarry now has the second highest save percentage (.920) in the Empire Division, only trailing Farmingdale State’s Joseph Decanio.
The final 10 minutes of this game were defined by penalties, with nine minors being called in that time period. There were a total of 20 penalties given out, 12 to Quinnipiac and eight to Ramapo. Despite all the penalties, the Roadrunners pulled out the impressive victory to move to 9-1-1-1 for the season. Entering this game, Quinnipiac held the number one national rank among the Collegiate Hockey Federation (CHF), while Ramapo was ranked ninth. There is no doubt Ramapo has jumped up after this impressive road victory.
“It was an incredible performance from the boys where everyone showed up ready to play,” said Paszkiel when asked about the importance of this victory. “We knew that Quinnipiac would be a massive challenge going in, but we had our sights set on climbing the rankings of not only our division, but nationally as well.”
The updated schedule has Ramapo playing three games this upcoming weekend, Friday at Fairfield University, Saturday at home against Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), then on Sunday they travel to SCSU. As always, all three games will be available via YouTube stream, and Roadrunner fans are encouraged to pack the Ice Vault Arena in Wayne, N.J. on Saturday night.
“After a hard fought lead of 2-1 through two periods, the boys blew it open in the third to come away with the massive win,” Paskiel said. “When we play our game, keep our heads high and execute, we are the team to beat.”
wjackso2@ramapo.edu
