Dawgs Play Keep Away, Top Bucs Pucks 4-1

The Bulldogs from (3-0) defeated the Buccaneers (0-3) by a score of 4-1 in a high school hockey matchup at Saturday.

The Bulldogs took control of the puck early in the game, pounding RBR goalie Charlie Fox with 16 shots in the first period. Fox stepped up and stopped them all, but the Bucs struggled to get the puck out of their zone long enough to generate any scoring chances. RFH kept the Bucs from getting a single shot on goalie Sam Adkinson in the first.

It was exactly what Rumson-Fair Haven Coach Chris McCaffery was looking for from his team.

"Offensively we cycle the puck, keep the puck in their zone, keep them on the defensive, and I think we did that pretty much the whole game. We played 95 percent of the game in their end," said McCaffery.

RFH tallied their first goal 1:21 into the second period when Alex Riguardi scored with assists from Christian Midnuch and Gary Cali. The Bulldogs advanced their lead to 2-0 with 2:42 left in the second when Brian Robinson found twine, assisted by Brian Patterson. RFH peppered Fox with 19 shots in the second, many of them slap shot blasts from defensemen at the point which had to make their way through a crowd in the slot.

"We needed to get traffic in front of their goaltender, which we ended up doing," said McCaffery. "We got a rebound goal. We stuck to the game plan."

Cali made it 3-0 about a minute into the third, which is where the score stayed until RBR's Nick DeSalvo broke Adkinson's shutout bid with 46.9 seconds to go in the game. RFH countered with a buzzer-beating goal from Cali assisted by Hunter Rotchford to make the final score 4-1.

With this win, the team is currently undefeated after their first 3 games. The Dawgs have their next game this Saturday at the Wall Sports Arena vs. Marlboro at 8:00 p.m. Their next game in Red Bank will be on Monday, December 19 at 8:15 vs. Jackson Liberty High School.