Photo courtesy of William Jackson.
This weekend was a tough end to the season for the Roadrunners, as after defeating Quinnipiac University in the semifinals, Ramapo fell to Farmingdale State University in the Emperor’s Cup Finals. Farmingdale State’s Brendan Dixson scored five minutes into the third period, sealing a 4-3 victory in the championship.
Prior to this weekend’s games, the Empire Division handed out All-Conference awards, and Ramapo took home a substantial amount of hardware. Senior Christopher Dressler was named MVP of the Empire Division and was named to the All-Conference First Team. Also making All-Conference First Team were seniors Eddie Dahdah and Holden Gruber. Sophomores Thomas Moskal and Dennis McGarry were named to the All-Conference Second Team. Moskal also took home the Rookie of the Year Award, and head coach Mike Winters won Coach of the Year.
Ramapo headed into Saturday night’s semifinals looking to put away Quinnipiac, a team the Roadrunners split their season series with. Goals by Dressler and Dahdah jolted Ramapo to a 3-1 lead through one period and the Roadrunners never looked back. In the final two periods, Moskal scored a hat trick in the final two minutes, leading to a dominating 7-3 victory.
The win set up a rematch against Farmingdale State University on Sunday afternoon, the team responsible for Ramapo’s single regulation loss this season. “It’s exactly what you want out of a No. 1 vs. No. 2 championship matchup,” said Ramapo’s Christopher Dressler. “A great battle between two great teams.”
The Roadrunners held a 3-2 lead deep into the second period, courtesy of goals by Rick Kimble, Gary Ragusa and Dahdah. Farmingdale State tied the game at the two-minute mark of the second period, and forward Brendan Dixson scored the game-winner midway through the final period.
“It was exactly the game we all expected to see,” said head coach Mike Winters. “A hard-fought, tight-scoring game from start to finish. It is obviously not the outcome we wanted but this group has so much to be proud of.”
Agreeing with Coach Winters was Dressler. “We fought until the last second and I am proud of the no-quit mindset our team has shown all year,” he said.
The season is not over for the Roadrunners, however, as the team is ranked sixth in the nation in the Collegiate Hockey Federation, and will take part in the Federation Cup in two weeks. The tournament will consist of the 32 best teams in the nation, and will take place from March 18-23.
“We are going to use today’s loss as motivation to be at our very best at the Fed Cup,” said Winters after Sunday’s loss. “This team can and will dominate if they play their game.”
“We’re playing good hockey right now and I’m confident that we’ll use Sunday’s loss as motivation for nationals,” Dressler added. “We are hungry.”
All games for the Federation Cup will be available via livestream on YouTube and will be broadcasted from Chester County, Pennsylvania.
wjackso2@ramapo.edu
