Beyond the Scoresheet

finals week

March 19, 2007 on 9:47 am | In game recap | 1 Comment

boy, this six days between games thing is kinda awkward, huh? Hopefully Mennen will be rocking to make up for it on Friday night.

I was filling in on Rice baseball broadcasts this weekend, so when I checked in late Saturday night, I was pretty surprised one of the hockey scores still wasn’t final. Must’ve been a crazy day. I enjoyed the quadruple-headers from back in the day when Mennen played at 4:15, 6:15, 8:15, and “9:45” on Saturday to avoid the NJSIAA’s rule that games could not be scheduled for a time that would project them to end after midnight. Guess that rule’s not too important anymore.

Sounds like an amazing day of hockey. Some controversial goals and some big performances but, most of all, close games! All four games sounded legit, two went to overtime, and we saw some upsets. Obviously, St. Augustine Prep and Bridgewater-Raritan deserve major props for knocking off the teams considered heavy favorites at the beginning of the year and, in the process, getting revenge on a rival (Ridge) and last year’s nemesis (Delbarton). I’m relatively familiar with all eight coaches in the semifinals, so I can legitimately say I’m happy for the winners – Rich McLaughlin I’ve known since I was 13, Patrick Alvin and Joe Maione I’ve met and emailed with for the last few years, and Tim Fingerhut I’ve talked to briefly this year about the Hermits’ schedules and whatnot – and empathetic for the losers – I’ve talked with Walt Keiper and Bruce Shatel a billion times over the past 10 years, and our rare meetings have still produced a ton of respect for Mike Reynolds and Tim Mullin.

That said, I wasn’t there, so here’s who was there and what they thought:

Randolph 2, Morris Knolls 1, OT:
Star-Ledger | Daily Record 1 | Daily Record 2

St. Augustine Prep 3, Delbarton 2, OT:
Star-Ledger | Courier Post | Daily Record 1 | Daily Record 2

Bridgewater-Raritan 4, Ridge 2:
Star-Ledger | Courier News

St. Peter’s Prep 2, CBA 0:
Star-Ledger | Asbury Park Press