Beyond the Scoresheet

who else will join the party?

Well, I went five-for-five yesterday, and I’m kinda proud of myself. I’m going to brag now, because there’s no way I’ll get all the games right two days in a row. Game-by-game yesterday:

Fair Lawn 0, Northern Highlands 0 (FL 3-1 in shootout) : Bergen Record
I got this one right, but I can’t say it was a really tough pick – Fair Lawn is the best public state tournament underdog of the past five years, by far. Colin Lemay stood on his head, as you knew he might, and Northern Highlands’ season ends in the cruelest of fashions – the shootout. From personal experience, I know how that one feels. I truly wish I had been there for this; my boy Dan Rosen said it was the best state tournament game he’s ever seen.
Hillsborough 4, Jefferson 1 : Star-Ledger
This one sounds closer than the score. Visnovsky had to make 25 saves, and Jefferson had seven power-play chances but could not find its offense. It was about time for the Falcons, anyway.
Randolph 4, Steinert 3
Props to Steinert for keeping it closer than I expected. Props to Kyle Krannich for making me a prophet with his hat trick. He’s been one of my favorite players since he was a Kenny Agostino-sized freshman, and it’s been fun to hear about him moving up to forward and dominating a bit. Too bad the 8 pm game is too late for newspaper coverage.
Notre Dame 5, Don Bosco Prep 2
Shemansky and Slowikowski keep rolling on by breaking open a 2-2 game in the third period. Even if Notre Dame goes down to CBA, two wins over Gordon teams and a gaudy record make this a great year for the Irish.
Delbarton 7, Paramus Catholic 1
Ho-hum.

You’ve got my predictions for tonight in the previous post; I would go to Mennen Arena for the doubleheader there, and the Watchung Hills/Ramapo game ought to be terrific as well. Enjoy!

Linking my way through the state tournament

Obviously, I was not at any of the nine state tournament games yesterday – the last day of the hockey season with that many games – but plenty of reporters around the state were, so I’m going to link you to their excellent coverage. Thank God wrestling season is over, so maybe in a week we can stop reading after-the-fact coverage of the wrestling finals and actually see some hockey. (Seriously, what the heck do they write about? Wrestling takes up more room than any sport except basketball, and that is completely out of proportion to how many people care about it, in my very biased opinion.)

Hopewell Valley-Middletown South: The Trentonian

Seton Hall Prep-Monsignor Donovan: Ocean County Observer

Middletown North-Princeton: Asbury Park Press

Ramapo-Wall: Bergen Record | Asbury Park Press

In other games, Mitch Wien (goals, points) and Alex Toth (wins) continued to set Steinert records by the dozen in an impressive 10-3 win over Kinnelon. Wien scored four goals, Gil Schaffer had six points, and Toth made 31 saves. Steinert next faces Randolph, which recently beat Kinnelon 10-1 in the Mennen Cup quarterfinals.

Paramus Catholic edged MKA 2-1, avenging the Paladins’ first loss of the season Dec. 30. PC moves on to play Delbarton tonight.

Montgomery beat Mahwah 5-2, setting up one of the best public school second-round games against Chatham Wednesday night.

Mendham beat Pequannock 5-2, advancing to play Morris Knolls for the fourth time this year. The Golden Eagles eliminated the Minutemen from the Cron Tournament and the Mennen Cup and beat them in the regular season. Fourth time’s a charm? Seems unlikely.

Finally, St. Augustine Prep had no trouble with Morristown-Beard, winning 6-1. Nice to get an at-large bid to the tournament; not nice to face a top-five seed in the first game.

For some analysis of the remaining rounds, read on …. Continue reading Linking my way through the state tournament…

missing out on a classic Friday night

Y’all. I clearly missed out on some ridiculously good games Friday. Let’s start in my neck of the woods – Morris County. For the first time since 1998, both semifinals went to overtime. That Thursday nine years ago was one of the most exciting nights of hockey I have ever seen (Randolph upsetting Delbarton in OT in the opener, Morristown upsetting Morristown-Beard in a shootout in the nightcap). It sounds like Friday rivaled it in every way. In the first game, Morris Knolls avenged last year’s semifinal loss to Chatham with a shootout victory after a 2-2 tie. The second game pitted Randolph against Morristown-Beard for the seventh time in nine years! It’s unbelievable how often these two have met in the semifinals. Beard had won six in a row, almost singlehandedly causing Randolph’s failure to win a third Mennen Cup title, but the Rams turned the tables with a 3-2 overtime win. I don’t often say I’m jealous of Dan Breeman, and I’m not willing to go that far, but I would have liked to see these two games.

Elsewhere, the first true NBIAL championship lived up to its billing, as Northern Highlands edged Fair Lawn in what I’m sure was a thriller, 3-2. Down south, Point Pleasant and Brick Memorial finished overtime tied 5-5. Unlike past NJIHL championship games, the teams decided the championship with a shootout. I’m not sure if there is any precedent for this in New Jersey history. I don’t even know if it’s in the NJIHL by-laws. At any rate, Brick Memorial won the shootout 2-0 to capture the Southern Blue Cup (can we get names for these things already?) In the other South Jersey finals, Middletown North won its third Dowd Cup in six years with a 5-2 win over Wall. St. Augustine Prep ended Monsignor Donovan’s 13-game unbeaten streak with an impressive 5-1 win, pulling away in the third period. Everybody is looking ahead to a possible St. Augustine Prep-Delbarton semifinal, forgetting that both teams have to get past tough first-round and quarterfinal opponents first.

In North Jersey, Sparta finally broke through Wayne Valley’s defense for a 3-1 win, while Glen Rock confirmed what everybody expected by holding off West Milford for a 3-2 win and a second consecutive cup title. From Blue Division to Red Division in two years for the Panthers! Finally, Notre Dame breezed to the Mercer County Tournament title, 7-1. Tough to get too excited about that.

I don’t know if Saturday can live up to Friday, but you know if I was in town, I’d be checking it out. Enjoy!

Brackets available!

njhockey.org has published the state tournament bracket. We’ll analyze them later, after the Dynamo-Puntarenas match. Overseeding / underseeding report coming up …

Continue reading Brackets available!…

explaining my seeds

Okay, I’m not ready to finalize my suggested seeding for the state tournament yet because we don’t know at-large qualifiers yet. But on maybe the best day of the season – ice cup playoff Monday – I want to explain how I arrived at some of the current seedings. There have only been two major changes from the initial rankings, so I’ll deal with the groups in which the teams bunched, for me. The top five were fairly easy.

Continue reading explaining my seeds…

NJSIAA Tournament qualifiers

Not as polarizing as a Top 20 but more useful, here is a list of state tournament qualifiers and at-large hopefuls. I will finalize my suggested seeding (suggested, not projected) after at-large bids are announced.

Meanwhile, here are my at-large selections: Private: let them both in. Mo-Beard and St. Joseph Metuchen play in tough divisions and narrowly missed out. Both have beaten several teams that are in the tournament. I have no problem letting both of them in on the dance. Public: A bit tougher. I still think it’s pretty clear cut. Verona actually had almost no big wins (does Summit count?) but played a ridiculously tough schedule and lost five games by only one goal. I’m in favor. Middletown South lost to Princeton but otherwise consistently showed itself to be a public capable of playing at the upper levels of White Division play, which is enough for me. 6-1-2 record vs. public schools. Mountain Lakes plays in a ridiculously tough division, especially for a public. I was all set to let the Lakers in when I stumbled upon their 2-2 tie with Morris Hills and their 5-4 loss to Vernon. Now, I’m no Northern Conference apologist, but when you have a head to head win like that and a win over Fair Lawn, I guess you have to let the Vikings in. That leaves out Indian Hills. EDIT: To clarify, I looked at Indian Hills again. .500 in league play, 0-4 against very, very tough non-league competition. Only one bad loss. Split with Fair Lawn. Not a bad resume. And I think the NBIAL was stronger than the Northern Red this year. I might have to call it a toss-up between IH and Vernon. Which could result in neither getting a bid. Tough call here.
Brick – if you can’t get a .500 record playing in the White Division, there’s no point.
And you know what that means for the other eligible teams.

So that’s my take. In: Morristown-Beard, St. Joseph Metuchen, Middletown South, Verona, Vernon. We’ll see what the committee says.

Last update: 18 February 2007, 11:25 pm CT
Continue reading NJSIAA Tournament qualifiers…

Delbarton-Lawrenceville thoughts

my first thought when I finally clicked through and got the video to work? “Dude, this is awesome.” You have to love the 21st century – I could sit in an office in Texas (where it’s 60-something degrees) and watch a high school hockey game at a small rink in New Jersey (where it’s roughly 20 degrees). Just awesome. Major props to SportsNetAmerica for getting it done. (EDIT: This whole thing was supposed to be live. I hit the wrong button, so I figure it’s better late than never.)
Okay, so we’re through the first two periods (it’s 2-2, by the way), and here’s what I’ve got:

Continue reading Delbarton-Lawrenceville thoughts…