Hopewell begins winter season with win over Steinert
WEST WINDSOR >> Lucas Gaissert not only quickly established himself as a goal scorer, but as a clutch scorer as well.
The freshman tallied the go-ahead and insurance goals in his high school debut to lead Hopewell Valley’s ice hockey team to a 4-2 win over Steinert in an openingday tilt at Mercer rink Monday.
Trailing 2-1 after one period, the Bullldogs got a goal from Cal Fleming midway though the second period to tie it. With 2:59 remaining, Gaissert scored his first varsity goal to put Hopewell in the lead. With 9:25 left in the game, he scored a power play goal to take the wind out of the Spartans.
“It was a hard win, but we got it,” Gaissert said. “I really wasn’t nervous. We had a scrimmage, the scrimmage went fine. I wasn’t nervous at all. I knew we could pull out the win today.”
It didn’t surprise coach Jeff Radice that his freshman came out poised.
“Lucas, from day one has brought the speed and intensity,” Radice said. “He’s definitely somebody that is a key part of our future. His speed and his ability to create room for himself definitely paid dividends today.”
The team speed was lacking in the first 15 minutes as HoVal seemed a step slow. Joe Vafis was credited with a goal when his shot deflected off a Steinert player to give the ‘Dogs a 1-0 lead with 3:58 left in the period.
Just over two minutes later, Mike Miller tied it for the Spartans, and with one second remaining, Dano Malik scored to give Steinert a 2-1 advantage.
“That goal was really stunning,” Gaissert said. “A lot of our guys didn’t know it went in. We were all kind of shocked and that’s when we knew we had to go into that next period and score it.”
Hopewell did just that, taking the lead in the second period and controlling much of the third. Steinert did a good job surviving a 5-minute, non-release penalty by allowing just one goal in the third period, but playing one man short made it tough to generate any offensive pressure.
In a game that featured 12 penalties, including a Spartan game misconduct, Steinert sophomore goalie Trevor Malik made 12 saves in his varsity debut to keep his team in it.
“We graduated a ton of seniors last year and there’s pressure on a lot of guys who should hopefully be stepping up,” said Dano Malik, Trevor’s brother. “Everyone is working and busting it. I know they can handle it but the first game was a little bit of a wake-up call for us, it kind of snuck up on us a little bit. We got bested on our physicality. We gotta win more puck races, win more battles. Be a little bit more physical.”
From the Bulldogs end of things, it was a case of keeping it close until they got their skates sharpened.
“Sometimes it’s just a little bit of shaking off the rust,” Radice said. “Early in the first period we were making some dumb decisions in our own end which, on our team at least, is the most important end of the ice. Once we cleaned that up and got pucks deep and went to work it went a lot better.”
Ethan Block, the team’s leading returning scorer, called it “a heck of a win.”
“We played all around pretty well,” Block said. “I always like seeing, after we play pretty bad hockey in the first period, that we eventually ramp it up and by the third period we’re dominating them. That’s exactly what happened. I really liked seeing an all-around great effort from everyone. From the goalies to the forwards to the coaches. I was really happy with how it went.”
Steinert (0-1) 2 0 0 — 2
Hopewell (1-0) 1 2 1 — 4
G: S-Miller, D. Malik. H-Gaissert 2, Vafis, Fleming. Assists: S-Miller, Barry. H-Amon 2, Kinney, Block. SOG: S-11, H-16. Saves: S-T. Malik 12. H-Jones 9.
Follow Rich Fisher on twitter @fish4scores