The Alternative Press

WEST ORANGE, NJ – Sophomore forward Tal Finberg broke a 2-2 tie when he scored the game winning goal with 2:36 left in the third period and goaltender Brendan Flaherty made 17 saves in the third as the Livingston Lancers outlasted Jefferson High School in a 3-2 effort on Wednesday afternoon at Codey Arena.

 

After a Livingston power play that produced only one shot; the only man advantage for either team throughout the entire contest, Finberg broke through the Jefferson zone and fired two shots that were stopped by goaltender Dan Olive.

 

On Finberg’s third try, in a span of less than two minutes, he would not be denied as he took a pass from defenseman Ben Arden, skated down the left slot and blasted a shot past the glove of Olive to give his team their third lead of the game.

 

“I skated the puck up and saw the open spot,” Finberg said of his game winning tally.  “I was planning to score, but it’s definitely a little bit of luck."

 

Although much of the game was a defensive battle, with goaltenders from both sides playing extremely well, the start of the first period was full of offense.

 

Livingston got on the board first when forward Cameron Friedfertig scored off a faceoff inside the Jefferson zone.  He lifted the puck past Olive’s stick on the short side and into the back of the cage to make the score 1-0 at the 3:32 mark of the first.

 

Just 13 seconds later, Jefferson was able to breakthrough with a goal on a put back from a rebound chance in front of the Livingston goal.  Forward Cody Signorelli’s original shot was stopped by Brian Lilien, who started the game and split time the time with Flaherty, but he could not control the puck.  Nick Dianuzzo then put in the loose puck in the crease to put Jefferson on the board.

 

That same sort of back and forth action happened again and this time it benefited Livingston as they regained the lead 28 seconds later.

 

On a somewhat unusual play, forward David Reiter collected the puck near the right side of the Jefferson blue line before firing a shot.  The puck fluttered a bit before it reached Olive and somehow went through him and into the net.

 

The remainder of the first period saw some quality chances for both squads, but neither was able to light the lamp.

 

A great chance for Livingston came when Friedfertig fed teammate Seth Crockett up ice as he was racing toward the Jefferson goal on a partial breakaway.  He fired a wrister, but Olive made a nice save on the play as the score remained 2-1 in Livingston’s favor after the first 15 minutes.

 

“I don’t’ care about the score. I care about the effort. If you can put the effort in, then whatever the outcome is, it is. The first two periods… we outshot them,” Livingston Head Coach David Conklin said after the game.

 

In the second period Livingston also had a number of chances to put in a goal to strengthen their lead, but was unable to do so.

 

One of their best opportunities came when Crockett fed a puck for Friedfertig in front of the Jefferson net, however Olive stood tall and made a good save. Later in the period, Arden fired a hard shot from the outside that went off the post.  Still, Livingston held a 2-1 edge heading into the third.

 

The very beginning of the third saw Livingston have a couple of opportunities in the opposition’s zone, but then after that Jefferson began to take control and dominated a good majority of the final period; something Conklin was not pleased to see.

 

“I thought we were horrible. I thought we stunk. Nobody played their positions. Nobody played the system,” Conklin said. “We didn’t play hard.  We didn’t do what we were supposed to do. We had guys not taking the body and it showed. We let this team in a game that we should have taken care of.”

 

Jefferson had six shots in a row on Flaherty before they broke through with the tying goal.  Signorelli put a puck on net from the point that was deflected in by forward Patrick Coffey to knot the game up at two a piece with 10:36 left to play.

 

After Finberg’s score, Jefferson pulled Olive from goal in an attempt to create more scoring chances in the waning minutes.  It nearly worked, but Flaherty came through with five saves in the final minute or so to preserve the win for Livingston.

 

“The defense was great.  Brendan was great.  At the end of game, they had a lot of momentum.  It’s good to have a good goalie,” Finberg commented.

 

Livingston is now 11-7-2 after Wednesday’s win, Conklin maintains that the team will have to give a better effort come playoff time if they are to advance in the tournament.

 

They have one more regular season matchup to focus on first when they play Mount Olive High School this Saturday at 7:45 at Codey Arena.