Here is the story by Brian Bobal of NJ.com
Summit finally got a chance to play beyond regulation.
No one in the state has more ties this season than the Hilltoppers’ five.
Fortunately, with a Union County title on the line, there wasn’t a chance they got to six, so some heart-pounding overtime heroics would have to suffice.
“It’s getting a little boring,” said Steven Louiselle said of the ties. “It feels like our team, when we tie that game, we just want to play overtime. To get the chance here in front of a packed barn to do it is surreal.”
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1/20 – 5:30 PM Boys Ice Hockey Final Summit 3 Gov. Livingston 2
Staying calm and collected in the crease as always, Louiselle wasn’t shaken by a pair of goals 20 seconds apart in the opening four minutes by Gov. Livingston-New Providence.
Instead, he supplied his team’s rallying point by stopping Jackson Benward on a breakaway just before the five-minute mark to keep the deficit at two.
“I think it was a big save but most important was how the guys rebounded,” Louiselle said. “They give me a little too much credit. I think they played awesome today. The game didn’t start off the way we wanted to but all season long we’ve been a team that’s been able to stay in games.”
True to their goalie’s word, the third-seeded Hilltoppers, No. 13 in the NJ.com Top 20, erased that early two-goal deficit thanks to goals from Jake Lowry and Nathan Steel and finished regulation tied for the sixth time this season.
For the first time this season, overtime followed and Keegan Sears became the hero.
He corralled a deflected puck in the slot and tucked it home to lift Summit to the Union County title, 3-2, over top-seeded and No. 8 Gov. Livingston-New Providence at Warinanco Park in Roselle.
It marks the eighth county title in program history and the first since 2019. It also snapped a three-game winless skid against its McInnis Division rival, which included a tie outdoors and a loss after a late go-ahead goal this season.
“We’ve still been angry from the first two where we had that tie and then we ended up losing the game last time with (27) seconds left,” Sears said. “To be able to win this one in overtime feels great. We knew we could do it and we were able to do it.”
This team is still on the younger side but they’ve dealt with consistency issues and occasional lapses in focus, pushed through it and now the results are starting to show. The Hilltoppers can now consider themselves one of the hottest teams in the state and one that’s radiating confidence.
A group that went 1-3-5 in its first nine games has now won six in a row and is on a seven-game unbeaten streak. What’s more, four of those wins have now come against ranked opponents.
Louiselle, who had 46 saves in the win, has been dominant during this stretch.
After allowing a combined 10 goals on 53 shots in that earlier two-game set against the Highlanders, his save percentage on the season dipped to .875. In six games since, the sophomore has posted a staggering mark of .952.
“I feel like some of these experiences we’ve been through are shaping us,” said Summit head coach Ian Bell. “We have some scars certainly that we’re trying to learn from.” … “They’re gaining confidence. You see them celebrating but they don’t know what they’re capable of yet. They’re capable of much more than this. This is just the start.”
Now the task at hand becomes carrying this momentum into the stretch run of its conference schedule and preparing for potential runs in the McInnis Cup and Public B playoffs.
“I think people always talk about how young this team is but I feel like that almost gives us a bit of an edge at times,” Louiselle said. “This team’s so hungry and we had an earlier exit from states last year than we wanted to. I still remember the feeling in the locker room after the game, just absolutely broken seeing those seniors walk away. I think this team has a little extra fire in its belly.”
