Although his team managed to win its state tournament opener, 8-3, over West Orange on Monday, Rumson-Fair Haven hockey coach Dave Smith still believes his team needs to play better.

"The game (Monday) night was not one of our better efforts of the season," he said. "Coming off a strong regular season (14-4-1) and a great Southern Conference Cup run in which we beat Toms River South, 5-1, and Middletown North, 2-1, in solid, passionate efforts, the team was a little deflated after our hard-fought 2-1 loss to Montgomery in the finals."

But Smith also understands why his team may have appeared to be a little flat on Monday.

"Prior to the game, we told our guys that with the state tourney, we were about to enter our third season within a season, and that very few teams can claim success in the regular season, the cup playoffs and the state tourney, but that we were in the unique position to do just that," he said.

"We scouted West Orange and gave our players an honest assessment that they were not as strong as our recent opponents, and challenged our players to bring their "A" game to a match where they could clearly get by without it.

"Unfortunately, we played down for the first two periods and led by only 5-3 at the final intermission. Shots were 22-12. We left our players to themselves between periods, partly out of disgust, but mostly to see if they could find the necessary spark within to come out with a solid third period."

In fact they did, out-shooting West Orange 15-5 and outscoring them 3-0 in the third.

For the game, Brian Torcivia and Justin Gates combined for five goals, with Torcivia notching four goals, including a penalty shot in the third.

As a result of the win, the Bulldogs are now 17-5-1 and advanced to the second round of the state tournament against No. 9 Hopewell Valley on Wednesday.

Smith told his players going in that they would need a better effort the rest of the way if they hoped to make any noise in the tournament.

"We obviously cannot afford to play less than 45 minutes of smart, passionate hockey against a team of their caliber, but if we perform to our ability, we are confident it will be a great game, and we like our chances."

With a win on Wednesday, the Bulldogs would face the winner of the No. 17 South Brunswick-No. 16 Ramapo game in the next round.

— Paul Salus