The Bridgewater-Raritan High School Ice Hockey Class of 2025 took their lumps as freshmen.
As seniors on a team now ranked No. 12 in New Jersey under the fantastic leadership of head coach Vincent Arnone, who has guided them for all four of their years on campus, they have helped solidify Bridgewater-Raritan's return to an elite level.
Their patience and hard work this season has already been rewarded with a runaway title in the brutal Skyland Conference Delaware Division, and deservedly, the Class of 2025 was celebrated in front of a jam-packed home crowd on the final day of January.
Prior to Bridgewater-Raritan's rivalry match against Watchung Hills Regional High School, the following 14 senior team members were honored. Players Tair Gafiatullin, Mattias Dorey, Nicholas Wisniewski, Sean Fagan, Dylan Churpakovich, Benjamin Meyer, Dymtro Murenets, David Yi, Lucas Rohmann, and Shawn Yuhasz along with team statisticians Samantha Buendia, Ava Cust, Madalyn Dolly, and Liel Raines-Moshe.
After winning just five games three years ago, Bridgewater-Raritan (18-1) celebrated its seniors with an early three-goal lead over Watchung Hills (3-12-1) on the way to an
impressive 16th straight victory on Senior Night: a 4-2 triumph on Friday, January 31, at the Rock Ice Arena in Dunellen.
With the victory, freshman goalie Justin Madison (19 saves) remained undefeated in games he has started for Bridgewater-Raritan. He now has 448 saves compared to just 36 total goals allowed in his historic debut campaign, and on offense, Bridgewater-Raritan has already produced a whopping 109 goals through 19 games after scoring just 32 total goals in 2021-22.
Bridgewater-Raritan, which fired 22 of the game’s first 26 shots en route to a 40-20 shot advantage against Watchung Hills, saw four different players score one goal in the victory.
Churpakovich (one goal, one assist), junior Alex Kotelnikov (one goal, one assist), Gafiatullin (one goal), and Murenets (one goal) with Yi (two assists), Fagan (one assist), and Wisniewski (one assist) each collecting at least one feed.
Six senior players scoring at least one point on their Senior Night: a fitting way to celebrate what has been a storybook four-year surge for Bridgewater-Raritan to its status as a clear Skyland Cuptitle and state championship contender in 2024-25.