Beyond the Scoresheet

margin of victory matters

January 23, 2006 on 11:19 pm | In analysis | Comments Off on margin of victory matters

Mountain Lakes (7-6-1) took a big step toward a top-two finish in the Halvorsen Division of the MCSSIHL with a 4-2 win over Pingry (5-6-3) Monday behind 30 saves from Matt Lowell. Pingry hit three posts in the first period and outshot the Lakers 28-15 over the final two periods. Mountain Lakes was able to skate healthier lines than in the past few weeks, and Jacob Sutker and Carl Dagger sandwiched first period goals around a Dan Ambrosia tally for Pingry.

The Big Blue applied pressure for most of the second period, finally tying the game at the 10:30 mark on a Dan Weiniger goal. But Mountain Lakes responded with the game’s most crucial goal, an accurate wrist shot from second-line forward James Putney, just 2:18 later. Clint McDonough sealed the game with a blast of a slap shot midway through the third period. Lowell was outstanding for Mountain Lakes, which hopes to get an additional boost with the expected return of forward Danny Lio from junior hockey. Could we see Mountain Lakes with three lines?

In other action at Mennen Arena, No. 4 Morristown-Beard (13-2) was sluggish in a 3-0 win over Mendham (3-8-2), which got 25 saves from Troy Hermann. In the nightcap, No. 20 Chatham (13-3) wore down Morris Hills (5-10) in a 5-2 victory. The Scarlet Knights dressed just 14 players and were without their top two scorers but did take a 1-0 lead. Ilya Schuf stopped 39 of 43 shots.

Around the state, No. 14 Bishop Eustace (9-4-1) rocked the Gordon Conference picture with a 5-2 win over No. 8 St. Peter’s Prep (6-5-2) … that’s sure to shake up next week’s rankings, especially considering the three-goal margin of victory is superior to that of Don Bosco Prep (2-1), St. John Vianney (5-3), CBA (1-0), and Pope John (2-2). Old Bridge (9-2-2) played its first non-league game since the Cron Tournament in December and upended No. 17 Toms River North (10-5), 7-5. I really want to say ‘I told you so,’ on this one, but I didn’t even have Old Bridge in my 21-32 category. And No. 1 Seton Hall Prep (11-0-2) rebounded from a 3-0 deficit to beat Princeton Day 5-3 at South Mountain. If one wants to compare scores, note Morris Knolls lost to the Panthers 5-4; who says we shouldn’t have an overall championship game?

Finally, in completely unrelated news, Freddy Adu made his full debut for the U.S. men’s national team last night and, at the age of 16, became the youngest player in U.S. history. Also, in case you were wondering, Nigeria edged Ghana 1-0 and Senegal beat Zimbabwe 2-0 in the African Nations Cup.