On Feb. 7, the Hillsborough Raiders Ice Hockey team hosted the Manalapan Braves for senior night. The Raiders honored eight seniors: Keegan McGowan, Mike LoRicco, Mike Panchery, Brendan Seramba, Lleyton Soares, Jack Spitzer, Jack Walsh, and Jason Wolff. This group of eight seniors have helped lead the team to a successful 13-8-2 record so far in the season. 

Normally for the Raiders, junior Jake Silver or sophomore Jason LoRicco start at goalie. However, head coach Chris Tommins gave the nod to senior Brendan Seramba to start on senior night. 

Throughout the first two periods, Seramaba was lock-down in goal, as he shut out Manalapan, and was undoubtedly the star of the night. Overall, Manalapan took 32 shots on goal and he saved 31 of those shots, despite it being his first game and start. He even got a shoutout from Jersey Sports Zone, as they filmed the game and posted it to their social media pages. 

“It felt incredible,” Seramba said. “At first, I had a bunch of jitters, but as soon as I took a couple of shots in warmups, I got in my zone.” 

Even though Seramba had a great game, it was a total team effort. The eight seniors put in a lot of hard work and dedication, and all eight contributed to the win over Manalapan.The defense, anchored by McGowan, Spitzer, and LoRicco, all contributed to shutting down Manalapan’s offense. The Raiders also went on attack early, with two goals from Panchery and junior Patrick Lewicki, and a goal from Soares as well. 

“This group of seniors means a lot to me, I feel like they are my family,” Seramba said. 

Up next, the Raiders move on to their final regular season of the game versus Toms River East on Monday, Feb. 10.