Northampton head hockey coach Brian Ruff believed Monday night’s clash with Southern Lehigh could be a measuring stick for his club in the Lehigh Valley Scholastic Hockey League (LVSHL).

The Konkrete Kids had an unblemished 8-0 record and sat atop the LVSHL standings.

Based on the results of the matchup, Ruff and the Kids may have some things to consider.

Southern Lehigh jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening period and went on to a convincing, 6-1 victory. The Spartans made the most of their opportunities, as they were outshot by the Kids, 43-21.

Their victory raised their record to 6-2-1 overall and to within two points of second-place Bethlehem and one away from first-place Northampton. Tyler Matute tallied the lone goal for the Kids on the power play and assisted by John Wolfel.

It just wasn’t Northampton’s night.

“We came out flat,” offered Ruff about his team’s performance. “We were down, 2-0, in the first period, and it went downhill from there.

“We expected a tight game, a very good game.

This was just the lone blemish on a sparkling season for the Kids, who are in the quest for their first LVSHL crown since 2017.

Ruff envisioned his current group doing well, as they excelled on the JV level and have some playing time together.

“They played well over the past few years,” noted Ruff. ‘These guys really work well together, and you could see this coming to its fruition. They are a very selfless bunch.”

With their cohesion, the Kids have plenty of depth.

“We have two lines that can score goals, and our third line is pretty good, too,” said Ruff. “We do have balanced scoring.”

Lorenzo Tita leads the Kids with 27 points, followed by Ault Ryder (18), Gavin Mollinkof (17), Bryan Schache (17), and Matute (13). Tita is the league’s leading scorer, and his teammates are among the top 10 to 20 leaders in the category.

Goalie Bailen Smargissi has a .244 goals against average (GAA) and a .921 save percentage. Smargissi has the lowest GAA among goalie with five or more games.

The Kids will be back in action against the Saints Monday Jan. 23. They will close the regular season with games against Parkland (Jan. 30) and Nazareth (Feb. 6).

Ruff anticipates a strong regular-season finish.

“We have scoring up and down the lineup,” he said. “We have been playing solid defense, too.

“This was the team we were waiting on, and we’ll see how we finish.”