It felt like this game was never going to end. Bergen County rivals Ridgewood and Ramapo went back and forth for 45 minutes.
Leads were traded, deficits were cut into. The two sides combined for eight goals just in the third period alone.
Then, Will LoSauro got his stick on the puck just seconds into overtime. All he saw was open ice, so he attacked it. Then when he got an angle to shoot, he took it and ended the game for good.
All it took was 19 seconds into overtime for LoSauro to lift Ridgewood, No. 10 in the NJ.com Top 20, to a 7-6 victory over No. 16 Ramapo on Thursday night at the Ice Vault.
In a game where Ridgewood (8-1) needed every a ton of scoring to win, the sophomore provided another major offensive punch with a hat trick and two assists. It was another superstar-like stat line for LoSauro, who has now tallied at least five points in three straight games.
For the season, his scoring totals are up to 16 goals and 15 assists in just nine games.
“This was hard,” LoSauro said. “We knew that it was going to be a hard game. Playing Ramapo is always a tough challenge. It was a harder outcome that we thought but good to get the win.”
While it was reasonable to predict that LoSauro would be the first player to shoot in overtime for the Maroons, the end result of the game was impossible to predict.
The score after the first period stood at 0-0. After the second period, it stood at 2-2. Then the third period happened.
Eight goals over a span of 9:33. Three different lead changes. It was a constant back-and-forth in which neither team gave up, but also never fully grabbed momentum.
This story will be updated.
