MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP – When Evan Hoey, one of Red Bank Catholic’s top hockey players, went down with a dislocated shoulder after a fight on the ice early in RBC’s 8-0 shutout of St. John Vianney in Monday’s Shore Conference Championship, it seemed that it would be costly for the Caseys.
However, any such thoughts were quickly erased as RBC (19-5-2) put together its finest overall effort of the season to win its second SC hockey title in a row. It also avenged an early season setback to the Lancers.
“Evan will probably miss a couple of games at the least,” said RBC hockey coach Ken Carlson, “but we played very well even though SJV was missing two starters. It was a good game to win.”
“That (Hoey’s injury) just got us fired up,” said senior Todd Goehring, who led the offense with the hat trick. “We have a good rivalry with SJV this season and this brought it up to a new level. We wanted to win this one for Evan.”
Goehring opened up the scoring at 12:12 of the first period with a shot just in front of the net. His other two goals came in the second and third periods.
“The first goal came when I got the puck in front of the net and put it in,” said Goehring. “Max Weber gave me an excellent pass for the second goal, but the third one was special because my brother, Rob, had the assist. It was the first assists for each other as brothers.”
Weber made it 2-0 minutes later with shot from five yards out on a power play and Griffin Hurley scored the first of his two goals from in front of the net following a scramble just before the end of the period.
Goehring then scored his second goal and Garrett Baden followed minutes later with another goal for a 5-0 lead in the second period.
Hurley scored his second goal just before the end of the period, and Goehring got his hat trick midway in the third period. It was his 32nd goal of the season.
Alec Mintz closed out the scoring with 3:06 left in the game.
The closest SJV got to scoring came in the first period when Pat Hemley got free on a breakaway, but RBC goalie Matt Benjamin made a great stop.
“I just let him make the first move,” said Benjamin. “I didn’t want to overeact because that can get me out of position. We played great defense tonight.”
“Our main goal was to strive for the forecheck, keep focused, and play with intensity,” said Carlson. “It was nice to repeat because the Shore Conference is very tough.”
Next for RBC is the NJSIAA Non-Public A Tournament, which got underway this week.
“It’s a very strong group with Delbarton, Don Bosco and CBA,” said Carlson, “but we’ll be ready.”
–By Jim Hintelmann
