The Glen Rock ice hockey team, which made it to the state final for the first time last spring, achieved another first this week when it beat Bergen Catholic, 4-2, Monday night in the semifinals of the Bergen County tournament to advance to the final of the county tournament for the first time.
The Panthers, who are 11-2-2 on the season and ranked No. 12 in the Star-Ledger statewide Top 20, will face No. 4 Don Bosco (10-3-1) in the final, which will be played at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Ice Vault in Wayne. Don Bosco beat Northern Highlands 5-0 in the other semifinal.
Glen Rock had lost to Bergen Catholic (No. 11 in the Star-Ledger Top 20) 6-0 in a regular season game earlier this month, but on Monday, the Panthers took a 4-0 lead in the second period before the Crusaders got two power play goals to cut the deficit. But Glen Rock goaltender Ryan McAuley stopped 26 of 28 shots in the game and Glen Rock held on. Sophomore Jared Brassil, senior Joey Mouridy, and juniors Matt Maselli and Eddie Corvelli scored the goals for Glen Rock. All the goals came on special teams, with Brassil, Mouridy and Maselli scoring on the power play and Corvelli scoring shorthanded.
Glen Rock, which is the No. 3 seed in the tournament, had a bye in the first round and then advanced to the semifinal with a 5-0 win over Indian Hills in the quarterfinals on Friday. Senior forward Peter Cassidy had two goals in that game, and then had a hat trick in Glen Rock’s 5-2 victory Sunday over visiting Ridge (No. 18 in the Star-Ledger Top 20) in a regular season game.
The Panthers, who lost to Ramsey in the state final at Prudential Center last spring, are led in scoring this season by senior forward and captain Jake Kinney, who early in the season broke the school’s all-time record for career points. Kinney has 15 goals and 15 assists on the season. Cassidy has 12 goals and six assists.
Don Bosco, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, is led in scoring by junior forward Tsubasa Konishi, a Glen Rock resident and former GRHS student who transferred to Don Bosco before the season started. Konishi has 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points.