SPORTS

Randolph ice hockey dominates in season-opening victory

Dan Breeman
Correspondent

STOCKHOLM – Randolph’s Garrett Stenberg was on the bench when the Rams’ season ended last March in a 1-0 loss to rival Morris Knolls in the Public A semifinals. Now a senior, Stenberg split time last year in goal with Andrew Holowko, who has since graduated, leaving Stenberg as the go-to guy this season.

Stenberg was between the pipes on Saturday for Randolph’s season-opening 5-1 victory over Mennen Division rival Kinnelon, stopping 22-of-23 shots and looking very comfortable in his upgraded role as the Rams’ No. 1 netminder.

“I think splitting time last year helped prepare me for what to expect this season,” said Stenberg, who allowed only a breakaway goal by Kinnelon’s Ryan Less in the second period. “You have to prepare yourself for every game whether you’re playing or not and getting that first win gives us a lot of confidence.”

The Rams received goals from five different players and all three lines despite missing one of its top forwards in senior Matt Bruno, who is expected back in a week or so while recovering from a broken leg.

The visitors dominated play from the midway point of the second period after junior Dan Janson scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal off an end-to-end rush and setup by defenseman Bryan Early. The breakaway goal by Less cut the deficit in half just over two minutes later, but Sean Jones’ late tally regained the two-goal lead for the Rams and set the stage for a dominant third period.

“We usually play a defensive game first and we lost a lot up front but the new guys really stepped up and contributed,” Janson said. “Once we got some of the early jitters out after the first period we were fine.”

Randolph skated to a 1-0 lead in the final minute of the opening period when freshman winger William Zimmer scored off a rebound of his own shot.

After Janson and Less exchanged goals early in the second, Jones gave the Rams a 3-1 lead when he fired a low shot from the high slot past Kinnelon goaltender Derik Hoffman (24 saves) off an offensive zone turnover.

Randolph then dominated the third period, getting goals from seniors Tyler Jones and Ken O’Brien to put the game out of reach.

“We played a strong defensive game and my defense let me see all the shots,” Stenberg said. “We want to get better every day and with every practice. We know what it feels like to have our season end the way it did last year and we don’t want to feel that way again.”

Randolph

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2

2

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5

Kinnelon

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0

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First period: 1. (R) Zimmer (Slavin), 14:38; Second period: 2. (R) Janson (Early), 4:48; 3. (K) Less (Writenhour), 6:51; 4. (R) Jones, 11:35; Third period: 5. (R) Jones (Holowko), 2:11; 6. (R) O’Brien (Holowko, Abrams), 13:20. Shots on goal: Randolph 8-12-9—29. Kinnelon 7-8-8—23. Goalies: (R) Stenberg (23-22); (K) Derik Hoffman (29-24).