Bridgewater-Raritan High School can finally lay claim to a New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) ice hockey state championship.
Bridgewater-Raritan defeated Ridgewood High School, 2-0, in the Public state tournament championship game at the Prudential Center in Newark on Monday afternoon, March 9.
Bridgewater-Raritan, ranked 11th in the state, added yet another piece of hardware to its trophy cabinet, having previously won both the Skyland Cup and the NJSIAA South Public sectional championships this year, before the Panthers claimed the ultimate prize on the ice used by the NHL New Jersey Devils.
The victory also marked the third state championship won by a Bridgewater-Raritan team this winter. Both the Bridgewater-Raritan boys’ and girls’ swim teams captured the Group A state titles on Wednesday, February 25.
The Panthers punched their ticket to the state Public ice hockey final, their fourth trip to a state championship game and first since 2014, after they eliminated Middletown High School North, 5-2, in the South sectional final at the Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Thursday, March 5.
Bridgewater-Raritan rode a 10-game winning streak in the state championship game against Ridgewood, which was ranked 13th in the state.
Ridgewood boasted similar winning ways heading into the state final, having emerged victorious in eight of its last nine games, with its most recent victory a 4-0 shutout of Ramapo High School in the North Public sectional final on March 5.
Ridgewood’s victory over Ramapo enabled the school from Bergen County to return to the Public state championship game. Ridgewood’s bid to win its first state title was denied when Westfield High School defeated it in the 2025 state championship game.
Bridgewater-Raritan and Ridgewood were largely familiar with each other, as the two teams met at the Rock Ice Arena in Dunellen on February 5, 2025. The two teams also encountered each other last week at Mennen Arena, as Ridgewood’s game against Ramapo directly followed Bridgewater-Raritan’s victory over Middletown North.
The Panthers came into Monday afternoon on March 9 with their sights set not only on flipping the script on their 5-2 loss to Ridgewood last year, but also on being crowned the Public state champion.
In Bridgewater-Raritan’s game against Middletown North, junior forward Stanley Xenakis was able to score a goal late in the second period to put the game out of reach ultimately.
Similarly, Xenakis slotted home a beautiful chance in front of the net in the second period against Ridgewood to seal the victory and state championship.
The only difference in this game was that Xenakis completely dominated from the onset, scoring both of Bridgewater-Raritan’s goals and having his hand or stick in countless Ridgewood turnovers.
“Good chances come if you’re always on them,” Xenakis said after the game.
“I got lucky a couple of times. The puck found me, and I scored,” he added.
Luck certainly may have been a factor in Bridgewater-Raritan’s victory, but one surefire key to their success was standout sophomore goalie Justin Madison.
Madison shut out Ridgwood on all 34 of its shots, making some incredibly high-level saves in one-on-one and rebound situations. The game marked Madison’s seventh shutout of the season, and the third in the state playoff run.
Madison discussed the balance between his intense desire to win a state championship and preparing as if it were a normal matchup.
“I just try to keep it the same every game,” Madison said.
“I mean, no game is bigger than another game, and you just have to treat it the same way as if it’s anything really. I really wanted to win that game, obviously,” Madison remarked.
Another integral piece of the shutout victory was their defensemen, with junior Jimmy Kramer emerging as the anchor in the state final.
Even though he served a two-minute minor in the second period for cross-checking, Kramer was willing to fling his body and his stick into harm’s way to block several Ridgewood chances.
Kramer spoke to the bond that the team holds as being an integral part of why this year’s team was so successful in his first true year of high school hockey.
“In my first year of high school [here], I won the state championship, you couldn’t have written it better,” Kramer said, smiling ear to ear.
“Just doing it with these guys next to me, it’s really the best,” he said.
The effort and resiliency of this Panther team really stood out throughout their 2025-2026 campaign, as they played from horn to horn with an air of professionalism that isn’t seen in many high school sports teams.
The state final game against Ridgewood was no different.
The Panthers got off to a rather flatfooted start, as they were largely comfortable letting Ridgwood’s sibling forward duo of William LoSauro and AJ LoSauro matriculate inside the Bridgewater-Raritan blue line.
However, the Bridgewater-Raritan defense was ranked among the 10 best in the state for a reason, and was stellar at converting defense into offense.
After two of William LoSauro’s chances on Madison hit the crossbar, Xenakis took the puck inside the face-off circle and down towards the back post, centering the puck for Ari Fusco; he was unable to get a handle on a shot on goal.
This missed opportunity marked the first of many short-winded Panther chances in the Ridgewood end, but not before Niklas Dorey was sent to the penalty box for cross-checking with 5:50 left in the first period, sending Ridgewood to the power play for the first time that afternoon.
Madison completely stonewalled Ridgewood in the first 54 seconds of the power play, making three saves on as many consecutive open chances. In the waning moments of the power play, Xenakis became a pest and knocked the puck away from AJ LoSauro and played it into wide-open Alexander “Sasha” Abolenskiy. Still, Ridgewood goalie Oliver Grant made the first of many sparkling saves to keep the game scoreless.
This chance gave the Panthers life in the offensive end, with senior forward Alex Kotelnikov taking the puck himself down into the offensive zone following a save from Madison before dropping it off to Xenakis, who had a great backhand shot parried away.
Merely 15 seconds later, Xenakis had another wide-open look at the net, but Grant again produced the sound save.
After another 20 seconds, Xenakis had a prime look at the net. Kotelnikov’s shot from the left face-off circle hit the crossbar, but William LoSauro couldn’t handle the rebound, which trickled out to Xenakis in front of the net. Xenakis would not be denied again and put the puck in the back of the net to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead with two minutes and 10 seconds left to play in the first period.
Madison was confronted with a similar situation from Ridgewood’s attack, as William LoSauro’s wrist shot from the middle of the offensive zone was blocked. However, the rebound leaked out to the right post, but Madison got his blocker out just in time to make the save and bring the Panthers to the break with the lead.
Ridgewood outshot Bridgewater-Raritan in the first period, 8-7, and kept up the offensive pressure coming out of the intermission. Ridgewood’s first shot on goal of the period was a shot from William LoSauro that again hit the crossbar. Not even a minute later, his brother, AJ, was one-on-one with Madison. LoSauro went forehand to backhand to the right post, but Madison sprawled out to make a terrific save.
It was now the Panthers’ turn to get out on the break, as Kotelnikov once again rushed down the ice and dumped off a feed to sophomore forward Jason Rutkowski. But Rutkowski couldn’t find the angle, with his shot hitting the post.
Madison dealt with another big Ridgewood threat with 8:59 left in the second period, as AJ LoSauro’s shot from the middle of the offensive zone went wide, but Mark Fuhrman came to collect it at the post. Fuhrman’s backhand chance was slightly parried away by Madison’s stick, but Kramer slid behind Madison to deflect the puck away from the goal line, knocking the goal itself off its posts in the process.
The seesaw battle continued as Kotelnikov, two minutes later, came down the ice with freshman forward Braedon Battista trailing. Kotelnikov played a cross-ice feed to Battista, who opted for a backhand shot that Grant saved with his blocker.
After two more Madison saves, one on a rebound chance for AJ LoSauro and the other with his chest blocker on a shot from Marco Lansizera, the Panthers were able to muster a great counterattack. Abolenskiy entered the Ridgewood zone from the left side, being marked by two defenders, leaving junior forward Easton Schrage wide open out in front for a shot, which Grant saved with 3:47 left in the second period.
However, the Panthers would not need to wait much longer for another run at Grant. Kotelnikov again matriculated into the Ridgewood zone on the left side. Running out of room, he played one back to Xenakis, who found himself right in front of the goalkeeper. Xenakis connected on his second goal of the game and extended the Bridgewater-Raritan lead to 2-0 with 1:15 left in the period.
But the game was not yet settled as Kramer picked up another minor penalty for cross-checking with 36 seconds left in the period. The Ridgewood man advantage had only one chance in the dying seconds of the period, with Madison stretching out to save it with his toe.
The shots on goal advantage still belonged to Ridgewood, as it put up 14 shots compared to Bridgewater-Raritan’s seven shots.
However, Madison wouldn’t need to face too much more scrutiny in the final period, as the Panther offense was finally able to establish some consistent pressure. This pressure suffocated Ridgewood, as Abolenskiy was able to dispossess William LoSauro at his own blue line. This left Abolenskiy one-on-one with the keeper, but his forehand shot was blocked and saved by Grant.
Madison faced the bulk of his action in the third period when the game was pretty much out of reach for Ridgewood, as it put up a flurry of shots with an extra attacker out on the ice.
However, Ridgewood still could not get past the brick wall in the net, and as the clock struck triple zeroes, the Bridgewater-Raritan players swarmed Madison in his own net in celebration of his lights-out performance.
After initial celebrations, the team was directed to center ice, where they received the NJSIAA Public Championship trophy. At the same time, Xenakis was presented with the Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau Most Valuable Player Award for the game.
Credit for this first state championship at Bridgewater-Raritan must also go to Coach Vince Arnone and his assistants, Steve Diamond and Carl Miexsell.
Xenakis echoed his teammates’ excitement.
“I’ll be able to look at this in 20 years, and I’ll still have a smile on my face,” Xenakis concluded.
