COMING ON CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35
Going Strong
With 7:50 left in the opening period, Rutherford Local 300
member Travis Ritter gave the PBA a 2-0 lead. The “most com-
plete game the PBA has ever played,” as Kelly called it, went on
to feature eight different players scoring.
Local 105 member Chris Connor registered to make it 3-0 at
the end of the first period. Taco set up Morris County Sherriff’s
Department Local 151 member Dave McAndrew with an open
net 31 seconds into the second period to make it 4-0.
Midway through the second period, the PBA conjured one of
the scoring barrages that has defined the team over the years.
Daniel got under the NJSP skin enough to draw a penalty at the
10:12 mark of the period. He scored the first of his two goals 23
seconds later to make it 5-0.
A defining goal then came 27 seconds later when Neptune
City Officer Damien Broschart, a member of Local 50, was
dropped in the corner by a state police hit but found the puck
and put a shot between the goalie’s legs for a 6-0 lead.
“Just got to keep going,” Broschart said of the team’s mentali-
ty. “Just got to keep fighting.”
When Ritter blocked yet another shot late in the second peri-
od, it led to a standing ovation that accompanied Jersey’s Stron-
gest off the ice at the end of the period. When Paramus Local
186’s Thomas Keough slid a shot under the NJSP defense for an
8-0 lead, Jersey’s strongest seemed to have found every which
way to score.
Except one. Broschart took the puck in his own zone and
skated around and through the entire NJSP team to make it
9-0 with 2:47 to play. An apropos ending seemed to come when
O’Connor, who set the tone with his first-period blocked shot,
drilled a shot from the point that went in. However, Local 151’s
Local 50 member Damien Broschart, a Neptune City offi cer, led the PBA
with two goals in the victory.
Kevin Hemlinger, who exemplified the team’s commitment to
go all out on every play, tipped in O’Connor’s shot.
The only ending that Jersey’s Strongest cared about was rais-
ing money for two important charities and skating off with an-
other cup. To call it the best night ever for PBA hockey seemed
apropos.
“Against that talent, yes, the best game we’ve ever played,”
Taco concluded. “State Troopers is a great team. They’re also
strong. They’re always respected. To come out with a win like
that, everybody did something. We didn’t have one person who
didn’t do their part. From the first faceoff of the game to the last
minute, we just kept pushing. That’s why we call ourselves the
strongest.”
F AMILY M ATTERS .
J ERALYN L. L AWRENCE , E SQ .
R ITA M. A QUILIO , E SQ .
36
NEW JERSEY COPS
■ JANUARY 2019