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When West Milford dropped into the Northern Conference's Blue Division for the 2008-09 ice hockey season, the team and coaches decided they would try to make the best of the situation. Mission accomplished for the Highlanders. After winning the regular-season title to ensure promotion back to the White Division, West Milford capped its season in blue with the first Cup championship in school sports history by capturing the Nardello Cup.
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The 2-0 triumph over Nutley was out of character for this Highlander team. Averaging more than six goals per game, West Milford (22-3-0) had engaged in several wild shootouts during the season. Only once before had the Highlanders scored fewer than three goals in any hockey game, and that was one of their losses, a 2-1 defeat to Lakeland in the Passaic County tournament.
Top scorer Collin MacDonald had a goal and an assist in the win, but the real star was goalie Kyle Letsche. The sophomore made 27 saves to post his first career shutout. Letsche's heroics were most critical in the opening five minutes of the game, when a fired-up Nutley team, cheered by a boisterous crowd, came out buzzing and had several fine scoring chances. But Letsche denied them all, and West Milford quieted the crowd even more when it broke on top with a power-play goal.
The score came off a give-and-go between Collin MacDonald and his brother Pete. Upon taking the return pass, Collin spotted linemate Conrad Weiss open at the far side of the net and slid the puck to him. Weiss scored into the open side of the net to make it 1-0.
That goal seemed to settle the Highlanders down, and they played better for the rest of the first period. West Milford did a better job in the second period as well, and had a couple of great chances on breakaways, but were denied by Raiders goalie Matt Rasp. The game remained 1-0 heading to the final stanza.
Nutley tried to pick up the pressure, and got a couple of good chances early in the third period, as Letsche once again stood tall in net. It seemed likely that the one goal lead wouldn't be enough, and that's when Collin MacDonald came to the rescue. As he did so many times this hockey season, MacDonald made a solo rush up ice, froze the defense with a feint and skated around the net for a wrap-around goal that doubled the margin.
With the more comfortable lead, the Highlanders relaxed and basically kept Nutley from having any more scoring chances. Soon enough, the cup was in their hands and the celebration was on. Coach Mark Pych got a Gatorade shower but didn't seem to mind.
"The guys played great," Pych said. "We messed up a couple of times but luckily Kyle Letsche saved the day."
"Any word for happiness, that's how I feel," said Pete MacDonald. "I waited a long time for this. The seniors waited a long time for this." -- Paul Mencher for Jersey Sports Now
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