Game Summary vs. Philadelphia Freeze - 1/4/25

By John Smith (#70 Liam’s Dad)

Our neighbors to the south took a Saturday morning drive up the turnpike this morning as the NJ Dare Devils hosted the Philadelphia Freeze for an exciting matchup.

A large contingent of Dare Devils attended the game, so we lent 2 of our veteran leaders to the squad from Philadelphia as Captain Ryan Griffin and Will Trampota suited up in white to help the Freeze take on the Dare Devils who were clad in their black “Jersey” Jerseys.

Dare Devil goaltender Matty Brighton was spectacular all game long making numerous grade A saves. Griffin and Trampota in particular were both robbed of potential goals on multiple occasions by the stellar play of Brighton. They both eventually got on the score sheet for the Freeze with Griffin scoring 2 goals while Trampota has 2 goals and an assist.

The teams played two 30 minute periods with most of the scoring taking place in the first period. Patrick Law opened the scoring with an unassisted goal, followed by James McTernan’s first goal on an assist from Ayden Duran to put the Dare Devils up 2-0.

Griffin put the Freeze on the board with an end-to-end rush goal. The Dare Devils answered back when Patrick Hung took a rebound of a McTernan shot and scored a wraparound goal.

Alphonso “Fonzie” Mosca was then stopped on a breakaway chance by the Freeze goalie who also played a great game. Fonzie though was able to score by knocking in his own rebound.

Will Trampota returned the favor after he was also stopped by Brighton on a breakaway but was able to score on his follow-up shot. McTernan then got his second of the game bringing the score to 5-2. Trampota then fed a nice pass into the slot to the Philly Freeze Captain and big #9 buried it for the 5-3 goal. Griffin closed out the first period scoring with an unassisted goal making it 5-4.

The second period was more of a defensive battle as the Dare Devils defenseman Kory Wadleigh locked it down in the defensive zone. Each team added another goal in the second period. Brighton made 3 saves before Trampota got his second of the game on the 4th attempt to tie the game 5-5. Kory Wadleigh then made a great breakout pass from below the goal line to spring Lindell Lu for a breakaway goal beating the goalie to the glove side and giving the Dare Devils the 6-5 win.