Nutley HS ice hockey team sweeps three games at Essex County Holiday Tournament

NUTLEY – The Nutley High School varsity ice hockey team won all three games in the Essex County Holiday Tournament at Richard J. Codey Arena in West Orange, beating Mountain Lakes, Parsippany Hills and West Morris.

Zach Vaughan scored four goals and Dan Caputo had one goal and two assists in the 7-0 win over Mountain Lakes on Dec. 26. Christian McCue and Ryan O’Mara each had one goal; Cullen McCormack had two assists; Conor Eng, Joe Fontanals, and Mark Frade each had one assist; and Joe Hoarle made 18 saves for the Raiders.

McCue and Vaughan each had a goal in the 2-0 win over Parsippany Hills on Dec. 27. McCue opened the scoring in the second period on an assist by Fontanals. Vaughan scored in the third period on an assist by McCormack. Timothy Spitalnik made 12 saves for the shutout.

Gerard LaFuria had a goal and an assist; McCormack scored a goal and Vaughan had two assists in the 2-1 win over West Morris on Dec. 30. LaFuria scored a power-play goal on assists by Vaughan and Fontanals to make it 1-0 with 9:55 left in the second period. McCormack scored on assists by Vaughan and LaFuria with 10:53 left in the third period to increase it to 2-0. Hoarle made 24 saves.

The Raiders’ four-game win streak was snapped with a 4-1 loss to Montclair Kimberley Academy on Monday, Jan. 4, at Codey Arena. Vaughan scored on assists by LaFuria and McCormack for a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period. MKA scored two goals in the second period and two goals in the third. Hoarle made 31 saves for NHS, which moved to a 6-4 record.