Here is the story by Brian Bobal of NJ.com
Gov. Livingston-New Providence capped a historic marathon with a ring.
Jeremy Siksnius just decided to throw the puck at the net and that choice ended the longest state final in New Jersey high school hockey history.
The puck tipped past Woodbridge-Colonia-Iselin Kennedy’s Hunter Galgani at the 37-second mark of the fourth overtime to lift the top-seeded Highlanders, No. 18 in the NJ.com Top 20, to the NJSIAA Public C championship at Prudential Center in Newark.
It’s been a tough year for Siksnius and his entire family, including twin brother, Ryan. Just over a year ago, the two found out their mother had been diagnosed with cancer after a trip to Florida. Now, his name will go down in history as the one who ended the longest game in state final history. It’s even more fitting that it was his first goal of the season.
“No emotion could describe what’s happening right now,” he said.
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3/6 – 11:00 AM Boys Ice Hockey Final Colonia 4 Gov. Livingston 5
It will go down as the second-longest game in state history, coming just 2:55 shy of Ramsey’s Big North Gold Cup win in 2021.
“It was rough one,” he said. “Everyone was exhausted. We just kept pushing. We knew we could get it and we finished it.”
Galgani and Scott Capan combined for 29 saves in the overtime periods before Siksnius ended it.
“All the credit goes to the guys on the team,” said Gov. Livingston-New Providence head coach Greg Jensen. “Everybody battled hard for the entire time and there was no quit at all. Everybody dug deep and it paid off in the end.”
The Highlanders had to play from behind early, as Hubert Polchlopek sprung free on a breakaway and opened the scoring just 45 seconds into the game.
Brian Kramer had the response for Gov. Livingston-New Providence with 4:53 left in the period and struck again 45 seconds into the second to tie it up at 2-2.
“Words can’t describe it,” Kramer said of the win. “Coming in as a kid you dream of this moment. You dream to play in front of your students, your fans, your parents, your family, friends, everyone. To be able to come out on top again in the fashion like that is just an unbelievable feeling.”
Ryan Lukko had given WCIK a 2-1 lead with 3:05 left in the first with a power-play goal. Despite a 17-5 shot advantage, Gov. Livingston-New Providence went into the intermission down by a goal. The tallies from Lukko and Polchlopek brought them both to 100 points on the season.
They’re the first players to reach 100 points in one season since Hillsborough’s Jude Kurtas capped his 2018-19 season with 112 points but GLNP did as good a job it could at slowing them down.
“It was a full-team effort,” Kramer said. “Forwards in the neutral zone, defense, Scott, everyone was no shifts off. Everyone knew the game plan. Everyone played their role and we did a great job shutting them down the best we could.”
Brendon Airel gave third-seeded and No. 9 WCIK its third lead of the game with 89 seconds left in the middle frame with a power-play goal. Brandon Cuccaro took the penalty WCIK scored on but immediately made up for it.
He drove to the net and buried a rebound just eight seconds after Airel’s goal to send it into the third period tied, 3-3.
“We just had to keep battling the whole time, staying mentally strong and everything,” said Capan, who had 32 saves. “The captain, (Kramer), showed a lot of leadership and everything getting the boys going.”
GLNP took its first lead of the game with 9:29 to go in the third when Anthony Labisi’s centering feed pinballed off of two WCIK players and into the net. Patrick Rennie knotted the game for a fourth time with 4:25 to go in regulation to send it to overtime.
The win caps a season that saw GLNP silence a lot of critics. They lost some key pieces of last year’s run and lost Brady Silverman before the calendar flipped to January.
The Highlanders came up short in the Union County final, in overtime, and McInnis Cup playoffs but they weren’t going to let a third tournament slip away.
“We lost a big part of the team last year but the boys were going strong and finished well,” Capan said.
