Delbarton 5, Morris Knolls 3
Morris Knolls usually plays Delbarton tough, and Saturday turned out to be no exception after the first few minutes. Junior defenseman Dan McLellan waltzed in from the point to beat Knolls goalie Alex Gredysa with a high wrist shot to get things started just one minute into the game. Senior forward Dale Reinhardt scored at the 3:51 mark, and it appeared that Delbarton would run away with it. The Green Wave made it 3-0 late in the period on a shorthanded goal from Reinhardt after a slick pass from linemate Tim Campbell.
The second period, however, was a different period. With Delbarton’s second and third lines unable to find the net, Knolls stayed in the game and made its move just past the halfway mark. Senior forward Dennis Zak circled the net and flipped a deft backhand pass into the slot where sophomore forward Dan Duda slapped a one-timer into the roof of the net to make it 3-1. The Golden Eagles surged forward with all the momentum and made it 3-2 soon after on a two-on-one break. Junior forward J.T. Baxter hit freshman linemate Tommy Tomensky, who was thwarted by Delbarton junior goalie Mike D’Urso. Tomensky picked up his own rebound, however, and with D’Urso on the ice, circled the net and wrapped the puck in to make it 3-2. The Golden Eagles continued to play strong hockey throughout the period, but Reinhardt struck again in the period’s final minute. Again it was Campbell doing the hard work, as three Knolls players converged on Campbell. With a delayed penalty coming up, Reinhardt picked up the loose puck wide open in the right circle and whipped a wrist shot in off the right post.
Holy Cross-bound Reinhardt turned provider early in the third period, sliding a touch pass to the back post on a three-on-one that Campbell tipped through Gredysa’s legs. Zak scored an individual goal two minutes later, winning an offensive-zone face-off and beating D’Urso to the far post, but even a six-on-four advantage in the final minute could not bring Knolls back into it.
Delbarton was without second-line center Justin Collins, skated all four lines, and played one of its backup goalies, but the Green Wave were still not as dominant as might have been expected. That said, Knolls skated three lines very well, got a strong goaltending effort, and might be the Mennen Division’s strongest contender as well as one of the top public schools.
Player of the Game: Dale Reinhardt (Del)
Ridge 2, Bridgewater-Raritan 0
I headed over to Twin Oaks after the Delbarton-Knolls contest, and arrived near the end of the first period. I heard Bridgewater controlled the early going, but what I saw was all Ridge in the final two periods. The Red Devils, finally with some red in their uniforms, overwhelmed Bridgewater by rotating up to 16 skaters to the Panthers’ 11, even without injured forward Greg Shurts. Ridge went on top 17 seconds into the second period when junior forward Joe Marquardt beat Bridgewater goalie Dave Kababik with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle. The game turned feisty on both sides, with plenty of cheap shots to go around and not many penalties. Ridge took advantage of its third power play midway through the period. Nick Coppola fed Steve Munier on the blue line, and his point shot was deflected out of mid-air by Matt German and past a helpless Kababik. Ridge continued to dominate play, although shot totals were not available, but tended to fire its shots either straight at Kababik or well wide of the net.
The Red Devils have a pretty good set-up at Twin Oaks, coming out to “Runnin’ with the Devil” for the third period. They continued to dominate, led by impressive junior defenseman Pat Elliott. Junior goalie John Gerke was rarely troubled against an unorganized Bridgewater squad, despite three Panther power plays in the third period. Chris Tommins and Kevin Tino each hit the post on the power play in the final two minutes, but Ridge hung on for its first victory of the young season.
Player of the Game: Pat Elliott (Rid)
Montclair 4, Bernards 0
This game turned out to be not much of a contest, and the most entertaining feature (for me, at least) was the contrast between the screaming of bass-voiced Montclair head coach Bruce Parker and the higher-pitched yelling of assistant Mark Janifer on the Montclair bench. Even on the far side of the rink, one could hear almost every word Parker rasped.
As for the game, the first period was the most competitive, as Bernards and its 10 skaters managed to stay with the quicker Mounties, who skated four lines much of the night. Depth paid off early in the second period, as Montclair forward Kyle Moore beat Bernards goalie Jack Pike with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle. The power play goal came just 14 seconds into the period and set the tone for the rest of the game. Senior defenseman David Witt made an impressive end to end run at the 1:45 mark before beating Pike with a wrist shot high glove side. The Mounties added a long wrist shot from Matt Tierney at the 4:16 mark to take an early 3-0 lead. Montclair outshot Bernards 14-1 in the first half of the period, and Pike faced a shooting gallery, including plenty that went wide. Pike finished with 38 saves. Montclair wrapped it up midway through the third period, as senior forward Dana Byquist wrapped around to the lower right face-off circle before beating Pike up high with a wrist shot.
Montclair skated four fairly interchangeable lines, all with fundamentally sound players that made good passes, and one gets the idea that Parker will bring the team a long way throughout the season. The Mounties will have to find some finishing skills, however, if they plan to make noise in the Central Red Division or the public state tournament. Bernards was undermanned, as the Mountaineers appeared capable of skating only two lines against division foes.
Player of the Game: Jack Pike (Ber)
Delbarton
5, Morris Knolls 3
Morris
Knolls 0 2
1 - 3
Delbarton 3 1 1 - 5
Morris
Knolls 8 14 11
- 33
Delbarton 13 14 8 - 35
1:00
Del #6 Dan McLellan
3:51
Del #11 Dale Reinhardt
13:38
Del (sh) #11 Dale Reinhardt (#9 Tim
Campbell)
8:23
MK #14 Dan Duda (#22 Dennis Zak, #27
Tom Brzezinski)
11:00
MK #41 Tommy Tomensky (#15 J.T.
Baxter, #42 Jon Erik Randazzo)
14:29
Del #11 Dale Reinhardt
3:49
Del #9 Tim Campbell (#11 Dale
Reinhardt)
5:57
MK #22 Dennis Zak
Morris
Knolls 0-4
Delbarton
0-1
#1
Alex Gredysa (MK) 35-30
Bridgewater 0
0 0 - 0
Ridge 0 2 0 - 2
none
0:17
Rid #9 Joe Marquardt (#5 John
Boudreau, #15 Pat Elliott)
7:09
Rid (pp) #44 Matt German (#14 Steve
Munier, #19 Nick Coppola)
none
Bridgewater-Raritan
0-5
Ridge 1-3
#25
Dave Kababik (BR)
#40
John Gerke (Rid)
Montclair
4, Bernards 0
Montclair 0 3 1 - 4
Bernards 0 0 0 - 0
Montclair 10 18 14 - 42
Bernards 6 2 2
- 10
None
0:14
Mclr (pp)#4 Kyle Moore
1:45
Mclr #19 David Witt
4:16
Mclr #15 Matt Tierney
7:34
Mclr #27 Dana Byquist
Montclair
1-2
Bernards
0-1
#1
Jesse Rogers (Mclr) 9-9
#30
Mark Yeterian (Mclr) 1-1