The Verona–Glen Ridge high school ice hockey team is all smiles while posing with the Kelly Cup trophy following a five-overtime win over Glen Rock in the final at Richard J. Codey Arena in West Orange.
VERONA/GLEN RIDGE — In the longest ice hockey game in state history, second-seeded Verona–Glen Ridge high school captured the Kelly Cup championship, defeating top-seeded Glen Rock High School, 2-1, in five overtimes in the final on Thursday, Feb. 15, at Richard J. Codey Arena in West Orange.
GR junior Jack Budinick scored the game-winner in the fifth overtime on an assist from GR senior Pyotr Sysak. The game lasted almost four hours, ending at nearly 10 p.m. The game-winning goal came at 83:00 of elapsed time.
Verona–Glen Ridge, under longtime head coach Ken Lilien, won the Kelly Cup title for the second time in three years.
Verona–Glen Ridge opened the scoring in the second period on a goal from Verona senior Jack MacEvory, with an assist from GR sophomore James Benson, at 4:28. Glen Rock tied it 1-1 on Parker Dupuis’ goal at 8:42 of the second period.
GR freshman goalie Jackson Soshnick made 44 saves for Verona–Glen Ridge.
The previous record for longest game was the 2021 Big North Cup final, when Ramsey won it at 78:32. In 2023, Governor–Livingston won the Public C state title at 75:37.
Verona–Glen Ridge avenged two regular-season losses to Glen Rock. They lost, 4-1, on Monday, Dec. 11, at Codey Arena in the second game of the season and lost, 8-2, on Saturday, Feb. 3, at the Ice House in Hackensack.
Lilien was elated for his team’s grit and hard work during the marathon game.
“I am so elated for them,” Lilien said. “I can’t say enough about my kids and the leadership within the team. I think the captains and the seniors just had a vibe that they refused to lose that game and I think that translated to the entire team.”
The team’s conditioning also proved beneficial.
“We skate a lot and I kept reminding them about our conditioning being met to handle something like this and they did, because we do skate a lot,” Lilien said.
Lilien also was proud of his freshman goaltender in Sosnick.
“I can’t say enough about how a freshman goaltender rises up to that moment when he has to stand on the ice for four hours and make some pressure saves. It was an incredible team effort. If we had one different kid on that bench, I don’t know if we get it done. That’s how special this group is.”
Fourth-seeded Verona–Glen Ridge unfortunately lost to No. 13 seed Fair Lawn–Bergenfield–Dumont, 4-2, in the in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s North Jersey, Public Co-Op state tournament round of 16 on Monday, Feb. 19, at Codey Arena.
MacEvoy and GR sophomore Bradon Grisafi scored the goals for Verona—Glen Ridge. Soshnick made 31 saves.
Verona–Glen Ridge finished the season with a stellar 15-7-1 record.
Photo Courtesy of Tom Jolly
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