Beyond the Scoresheet

Lakes on course

March 5, 2006 on 9:38 pm | In game recap | 1 Comment

NJSIAA Public First Round: Mountain Lakes 4, Montclair 0
Mountain Lakes eased past Montclair 4-0 Sunday at Mennen Arena to reach an NJSIAA public round of 16 game Wednesday against a Morris County opponent to be determined. Conlin Sheridan scored two first-period goals for the Lakers, and that was all they needed.

I had only seen Montclair for about a period this season, and while I knew the Mounties were not deep, I did not know just how drastic the situation was. Bruce Parker skated one defense pairing – Bob VonHoffman and Matt Simeoni – the entire game until the game was out of reach. VonHoffman totaled 43:58 on the night and Simeoni 42:38, lagging only due to a two-minute minor penalty. The first period saw just 18 total skaters see the ice – 10 from Mountain Lakes and 8 from Montclair. The Lakers dominated, with a 17-5 shot advantage, and Sheridan twice blasted point shots past Nick Germany-Wald for the 2-0 advantage.

Montclair seemed to pace itself with more maturity than Mountain Lakes, and the Mounties had the better of play in the second period, but Lakes goalie Matt Lowell rose to every challenge. Lakes’ best chances all went through Dan Lio in transition. Play evened up a bit in the third period, but the game screeched to a halt with 6:56 remaining when a jarring hit shattered a pane of glass. After rink staff replaced the glass and cut the ice in full, the game resumed after a 25-minute delay. Montclair never seriously threatened to get back in the game, and Clint McDonough sealed things with an empty-net tally with 1:02 remaining. Lio added a late breakaway to provide the final 4-0 margin.

Mountain Lakes will probably realize its anticipated third meeting of the season with second-seeded Randolph. The Rams came from behind to beat the Lakers 2-1 in the regular season and needed an overtime goal to win the teams’ Mennen Cup quarterfinal, 3-2. Randolph beat Mountain Lakes 7-2 in the round of 16 last year. Randolph faces a third Morris County school, Park Regional, Monday night, with the winner facing Mountain Lakes Wednesday.

Mountain Lakes 4, Montclair 0

Scoring

Mclr	0	0	0		0
ML	2	0	2		4

Shots

Mclr	5	8	5		18
ML	17	3	6		26

1st
8:34 ML #3 Conlin Sheridan (#12 Jacob Sutker)
14:10 ML #3 Conlin Sheridan (#23 Dan Lio)
2nd
none
3rd
13:58 ML (en) #44 Clint McDonough (unassisted)
14:55 ML #23 Dan Lio (#21 Kyle Fisher)

Goalies
#30 Nick Germany-Wald (Mclr) 25-22
#30 Matt Lowell (ML) 18-18

Power plays: Mclr 0-2, ML 0-2