Wayne Knights hockey team skates past PCTI for first Passaic County title since 2018
WAYNE — Four years and three seasons later, Wayne is back on top in Passaic County.
The Knights claimed their second Passaic County Tournament title on Thursday when they defeated crosstown Passaic Tech, 7-2 in front of a packed crowd at the Ice Vault Arena.
Josh Shpungin and Michael Brogna scored two goals apiece and five different Knights joined in on the scoring party as the championship cup returns to Wayne for the first time since 2018.
"I knew before the season started that this team was the group," Wayne coach Justin Liscio said. "I coached a lot of these kids when they were younger. It's a very special group and we all talked about the team goals early on and where we want to go. They all said this is where they want to be."
Alex Scheuplein opened the scoring just 3:37 into the contest when he scored his first goal of the season off feeds from Joe Riina and Luke Hulbert (4 assists).
Seconds later, Shpungin gave Wayne a two-goal lead with a goal at 10:57 off an assist from Chris Wolfsohn.
"Getting out to an early two-goal lead was huge. It helped with our confidence and it took some of the pressure off," said Brogna, North Jersey's scoring leader with 21 goals and 10 assists. "When you get up early you're confident and you're feeling it and you play better."
Top-seeded Wayne (9-5-2) raced out to a 5-0 lead before second-seeded Passaic Tech (9-8-1) got on the board witht 1:48 remaining in the second period on a Emmanuel Ammendola goal off an assist from Angelo Lacognata.
Brogna increased the Knights' lead to 3-0 in the second period when he scored a power play goal at 10:20 off assists from Shpungin (3 assists) and Hulbert.
Seconds later, Ben Friedman added to the lead on a goal at 9:34 to put Wayne up 4-0 on assists by Shpungin and Hulbert.
The championship final was the second meeting between the programs this season and fourth ever. Last month's regular-season contest ended in a 2-2 tie as Wayne scored two third period goals after falling behind.
Wayne, only in its fourth year as a co-op program that includes students from both Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley, leads the all-time series against Passaic Tech, 2-1-1. This is only the third season for Passaic Tech as a full-fledged program after its inaugural campaign debuted in 2020.
"Last time we didn't get off to as early as a start as we would have liked to and we had to claw our way back," said Shpungin, who notched his second five-point game of the season. "Taking a quick and early lead was one of our goals coming in tonight. It worked out this time."
Brogna notched his second goal of the night at 5:55 of the second period off assists from Hulbert and Josh Flom, giving the Knights a comfortable 5-0 advantage.
The Knights held a commanding 6-1 lead at the intermission when Shpungin scored his second goal off an assist from Aidan Danubio with 41 seconds left in the second period.
Hulbert closed out the scoring for Wayne off a feed from Scheuplein with 5:45 left in regulation.
Wayne outscored Passaic Tech, 50-17.
Wayne goaltender Kareem Rifai had 15 saves.
"A win like this shows we can play. Passaic Tech is a big win. It's the county championship," Liscio said. "We just have to continue to believe in ourselves. We have a few weeks before the playoffs begin, but wins like this is what you look back on that gives us the confidence moving forward."
Nick Gantaifis is a high school sports reporter for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter and download our app.
Email: gantaifis@northjersey.com
Twitter: @ngantaifis1
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Wayne Knights NJ hockey skates past PCTI for Passaic County title
