By Mike Gurnis
Randolph coach Rich McLaughlin has seen quite a few things in his over three decades of coaching.
But nothing like Monday night’s North, Public sectional semifinal, he said.
In a battle of two perennially strong programs in Randolph and Livingston that are usually known for defense, the teams combined for 17 total goals. Randolph erased a four-goal second period deficit with six unanswered goals. Then after giving up a two-goal lead of its own, it took the lead late and finished it off with a pair of empty-net goals.
There wasn’t a single coach, player, parent, or media member who could have predicted this game unfolding the way it did.
But as the final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard read: Randolph 10, Livingston 7.
The third-seeded Rams are heading back to the North, Public sectional final on Thursday night, where it will take on fourth-seeded Ridgewood at 7 p.m. at Codey Arena, the site of Monday night’s thriller.
A high-scoring game like this can be a dream for players, but a nightmare for coaches, such as McLaughlin, who has preached defense for all of his tenure. Giving up seven goals in a game is unfathomable for a program that is used to winning playoff games by scores of 2-0 and 3-1 over the years.
“It kills me,” McLaughlin said with a laugh. “I’ve got a little heart issue that probably not doing real well right now, but yeah, it’s tough to watch. It’s just one of those days, everything’s just going crazy. Yeah, I really don’t understand. I’m gonna have to see it again to see how we all did that. The biggest thing is we didn’t quit. Nobody quit. No one quit on each other. They played for each other, they worked hard for each other.
The end result was almost unfathomable early in the second period, when Livingston built a 5-1 lead, the last coming from Nikta Gorshkov with 8:11 to go in the second period. While there was still roughly half of the game remaining, the clock seemed to be counting down to the end of Randolph’s season.
But Randolph is a team that can turn it on offensively at any given moment, and that’s exactly what it did. Shane Melly scored twice in a span of 34 seconds to bring the Rams within 5-3 with 4:58 to go in the period. Shortly thereafter, a big hit on defenseman Ryan Potanovich led to a five minute major being assessed against Livingston, while Randolph also received a two minute minor on the play.
It took mere seconds for Jase Zangara to score on the 4-on-4 to cut it to 5-4. Then, with 1:17 left in the frame, Vincent Crisafulli scored on a 5-on-3 to tie the game at five.
Potanovich’s quick return served as an emotional lift for the team, as well.
“We’re all sacrificing for this game,” Zangara said. “We’re all playing beat up, but it doesn’t matter. We all work for each other. He came right back out, that’s what fired us up. He was fine, he got right back up, he came right back out and played his game.”
That momentum carried over into the third, when Melly and Jacob Campbell scored 2:29 apart to give Randolph a 7-5 lead. In a span of just under 10 minutes of game time, Randolph turned a four-goal deficit into a two-goal lead.
“I can’t be more proud than I am of these people who I’m surrounded with right now,” Crisafulli said. “We just fought to the end. I’m just so excited right now. We’re so happy for each other. I’m so proud of these guys.”
He added, “We just believed in each other. We know we’ve been in this spot before. All it takes is one to get us going, and Shane put that one in. From there, we just battled. We were hungry to win. We wanted it.”
But another twist was in store for both teams. Livingston’s Mitchell Friedman netted a power play goal with 8:48 left in the game, before Daniel Furman scored with 4:53 to go to tie the game at seven.
Quick responses were the theme for Randolph, and that’s what Crisafulli did, as a rebound of a Jacob Campbell shot kicked out to him in the slot. Crisafulli displayed patience as he moved in on the goalie, and ultimately tucked it home to give his team the lead for good with 4:01 left.
Then, the Rams sealed it with a pair of empty-net goals from Jase Zangara in the final minute. It was a seven-point night for Zangara (3 goals, 4 assists), who surpassed 200 career points in this one.
“It’s cool and all, but I couldn’t do it without my teammates,” Zangara said of the milestone. “It all starts here in the locker room. Such a good group of guys around me. It’s cool, but we have a bigger goal, and that’s all that matters.”
Amazingly, in a game where it allowed seven goals, it was the team’s defense that allowed it to come back in the game, McLaughlin said. After falling behind 5-1, it outscored Livingston 9-2 the remainder of the game, and surrendered very little in terms of quality as the game progressed.
“Defense wins. You know, I know it sounds really stupid tonight, but you’ve just got to play defense,” McLaughlin said with a smile. “You’ve gotta play better defense to give yourself a chance. You could say we gave ourselves a chance by keeping them to seven.
He added, with a laugh, “I can’t believe I’m saying that.”
But no matter how it got done, Randolph is on to the sectional final. It finds itself one game away from Prudential Center and the Public state final, as it hopes to return to a state championship game and win for the first time since 2020.
“There’s no better feeling right now,” Crisafulli said. “I mean, we’re hungry, we want to win, and we’re taking one step at a time right now, so we’re looking forward to the next game. “
“It’s exciting. We’re gonna come in, we’re gonna play our game, and we’re gonna have fun,” Zangara added. “It’s what we do.”
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“He’s been doing this for four years. We look to him in a game like this to play that hard, and when he plays that hard, other guys follow. He doesn’t have to talk. He just does. They see him doing what he does, the other guys feed off it and do what he does. That’s what a true leader does. He’s a leader.”- Randolph coach Rich McLaughlin on Jase Zangara’s 200th career point.
“You’ve got to wash it out. We’ve got practice tomorrow at 4:00. Ridgewood’s coming, and they’re going to be the best team we’ve played all year. So, yeah, we’re going to need a better, a good, good effort to beat them, because they can score.”– McLaughlin said of how to refocus after a game like this.
“We played with our hearts. We played our kind of hockey. Not one of them gave up. We’re in the locker room, we all picked each other up and we got right back to it. Never thought for a second that it was over.” — Jase Zangara said of the comeback.
“This was wild. Just from the start, we just kind of lost our mind on the defensive side for a while. We got our first goal, I think we thought it would be a little easier. We started running around, and they caught us. They can score and they can play. Luckily, we made some saves, and we get that second goal lifting up our heads a little bit, and then the third goal right away, I think that turned it around for us as far as our feeling on the bench. Guys were jumping and screaming at that point. We just went on a roll from there, and then they tied it at seven. I have no words for that. That’s unlike us, but a win, is a win, is a win.”– McLaughlin said of the comeback.
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