The New Jersey 87's Premier team finished the job on Sunday, defeating the Worcester Junior Railers by a score of 5-2 to bring home the organization's first championship in its four-year history.

Cole Moore was named Most Valuable Player after making 32 saves against the Railers, while Michael LoRicco and Hugh McGuigan scored two goals each in the championship game to give the 87's its first title.

Coaches and co-owners Adam Houli and Matt Kiernan noted it was fitting how the Premier team won the organization's first title, considering the 87's started out in the Premier Division in the 2017-2018 season. They reflected on their championship run shortly after their win over the Junior Railers.

"When we got into this, nobody gave us a shot. They thought they were making a huge mistake getting us into the league, and I think for us that served as extra motivation," said Matt Kiernan in the postgame press conference. "Knowing the doubts that existed with a lot of people in hockey thinking we were going to fall flat on our faces, and to get this done in the first four years makes it even more sweet."

The Premier Division started its Frozen Finals on Saturday, after the EHL teams had concluded their round robin games. Unlike the EHL, the Premier team only had three teams in the round robin with the 87's, Junior Railers and Lumberjacks Hockey Club. All three round robin games were scheduled throughout that Saturday.

That morning, the 87's went up against the Lumberjacks, and Luke Satkowski opened the scoring at 12:55 with a dazzling shorthanded goal. He toe dragged around a defender and went to the backhand on Lumberjack goaltender Sam Fath. Patrick DeMarinis doubled the lead in the second period when Hugh McGuigan fed a pass to the low slot. DeMarinis found the rebound and batted the puck out of mid-air for the goal. Damion Williams rounded out the scoring with a power-play goal in the third period. He entered the offensive zone as the trailer in a 3-on-1 rush, collected a pass and fired a wrist shot high glove side to make it 3-0. Cole Moore finished the game with a 28-save shutout, and his most impressive stop was a sliding glove save in the second period off a one-timer from Colby Anton.

Later that afternoon, the Worcester Junior Railers defeated the Lumberjacks in their round robin game, meaning the championship game would be the 87's and Junior Railers. The coaching staff for both teams decided to forego the final round robin game and rest their teams up for the championship game on Sunday morning.

New Jersey came out strong in the first period, and it was Michael LoRicco who struck first. Chris Cicarello entered the offensive zone on the left side and sent a pass right to LoRicco, who slammed home a one-timer 8:22 into the period. The 87's doubled the lead at 7:41 when Owen Newhouse's shot slipped past Railers goaltender Sal Caruso, and LoRicco buried the rebound for his second of the game. Hugh McGuigan made it 3-0 when he followed up on his own rebound at 14:04 of the middle frame.

"A line that we were struggling to find some time for probably had their best game of the year, and that's when you knew something special was going to happen today," said Houli about the line combo of McGuigan, Patrick DeMarinis and Ryan Miller.

Worcester gained some life at the end of the second period, scoring two goals in just 26 seconds. Jayden Blackburn converted on a Jr. Railers power play, and Jake Barcelou ripped a one-timer right off an offensive-zone faceoff to cut the deficit to one.

Despite Worcester's efforts, the 87's remained focused and finished strong in the third period. McGuigan shot a backhander that trickled over the goal line for his second goal of the contest, making it 4-2 at 3:43 of the third period. With 6:21 left on the clock Moore made a save at point-blank range, but the Jr. Railers were awarded a penalty shot because an 87's defender covered the puck in the crease. John Belisle took the shot for the Jr. Railers, and his backhanded shot was snatched by Moore's glove. DeMarinis put the final nail in the coffin with a power-play goal at 16:42 to make it a 5-2 game. As time expired, the team mobbed Moore at his crease as the team celebrated its first-ever championship. The Michigan native netminder, who went 4-0-0 in the postseason, was named Most Valuable Player.

"We knew we had something in him when he was there, and we knew it was a matter of waiting for it to come out. We went with him in the playoffs, it started there and you knew after yesterday's game that it was going to be tough to beat him," Houli said of Moore. "He's a tremendous kid who worked his butt off, he's super emotional and that really helped our guys. He keeps the tempo up, he keeps our energy up, and that's the guy you need to backstop you to a championship."

EHL team falls just short in round robin

The 87's EHL team came into Westchester with a 4-0 record after sweeping Team Maryland and the Philadelphia Little Flyers. On Wednesday they started round robin play against the New Hampshire Avalanche, but found themselves down 3-0 early in the second period. Jon Garbiel and Francis Kienzle scored two goals just a minute and 41 seconds apart, the Avalanche responded with two more goals to make it 5-2. Dylan Gutierrez and Dante Terramani both scored in the third period to make it 5-4, but the score would hold to give the Avs the win.

Up next the 87's went up against the Boston Jr. Rangers, and similar to their game against the Avalanche, New Jersey fell behind 3-0 in the first period. Matt Bielinski and Nick Swain scored in the second period to close the gap, but the Jr. Rangers would score 65 seconds into the third period to make it 4-2. Swain collected his second goal of the game with 2:23 left in the game, but the Jr. Rangers converted on an empty net to win 5-3.

In the final round robin game, the 87's had a back-and-forth affair against the Lumberjacks Hockey Club, as New Jersey jumped to a 2-0 lead with goals from Bryan Van Ness and Everest Schneider. The Lumberjacks responded with three unanswered goals, taking a 3-2 lead in the opening minute of the third period. In response, New Jersey scored three more goals from Tim DeBord, Kei Yasuda and Jacob Crespo. Vermont made one last push to even the score up, but Jason Santoriello fired a one-timer over the glove of goaltender David Reduzzi with 1:05 left in the game. It stood as the game-winner, but the Jr. Rangers' win over the Avalanche later that day eliminated the 87's and Lumberjacks from the Frozen Finals.

After the win over the Lumberjacks, Houli reflected on the EHL team's historic season and discussed what stood out about this year's group of players compared to years past.

"Their resiliency. Obviously it was Covid year, knowing how difficult it was and how many times we had to battle through adversity both on and off the ice. I was more emotional yesterday, but today after getting that win, I feel really proud of those guys in our program," Houli said. "I wanted those guys to feel the respect when they got here, and in my biased mind watching those three games I thought we were one of the top teams. I thought we played the hockey we needed to but we couldn't get any bounces and that's how it goes in these short times."

Additional Notes:

-Dating back to last year's one playoff game against the Renegades, the 87's Premier team has now won five consecutive postseason contests.

-With his two-goal performance in the championship game, Hugh McGuigan became the 87's team leader in postseason points with seven (2 goals, 5 assists)

-Tim DeBord set one last record as an 87 in his game against the Lumberjacks. It was his 10th career playoff game with the team, which dates back to his first postseason in 2019.

Photo Credit: Dan Hickling