Renegades Jr Team Wrap Up

The NJ Renegades Jr Team wrapped up their season this past weekend with a playoff series loss to the Central Penn Panthers who were the #1 team in the division, the overall leaders of the MJHL and one of the top ranked teams in the country.

Friday night March 12th saw the Renegades travel to Lancaster, PA for game 1 of the best-of-3 series with CPP. After the 1st period the Renegades trailed 1-0 despite outshooting the Panthers 16-11. Early in the 2nd period with the score still 1-0 the worst possible scenario occurred when starting goaltender Jake Rash injured his right ankle. Jake tried to stay in the game. After letting up an uncharacteristic goal, the Panthers were up 2-0 when Head Coach Cliff Graziano called a timeout to talk to his goalie. "The pain was just too much for him to go on" said Graziano. "For Jake to come out, I now he was hurt bad, he is a tough kid". Backup goalie Jacob Ullom entered the game and the Panthers went on the attack. The Renegades lost the game, but looked forward to redeeming themselves in Game 2 at home.

On Saturday March 13th the Renegades playing at home scored the 1st goal of the game as the Panthers and Renegades traded goals back and forth; with the Renegades holding a 3-2 lead heading into the 3rd period. The team fought hard as they didn't want to see their magical season come to an end. Unfortunately the Panthers struck for 3 goals to take a 5-3 lead. With the Rens goalie Jacob Ullom pulled the Rens pummeled a ton of shots in the final minute of the game only to see the Panthers goalie shut the door as the final buzzer went off. "It was a tremendous group of kids that put on the Renegades jersey every game, they fought hard and they were disappointed with the series loss" said Asst. Coach Chris Ceransky. "But we showed the Jr hockey world this season that the Renegades, in only their 2nd season of Jr hockey existence, that we're here and ready to compete with the best clubs in the MJHL".

Head Coach Cliff Graziano added "I have never been so proud of a group of players. These kids gave us everything they had and they proved this season that we can play with any team; not only in our league, but in the country at this level. I will always remember this group of players for putting our Jr program on the map. Congrats Boys you did GREAT!"