By Mike Gurnis
In the playoffs, anything and everything is on the table.
Oftentimes, it’s the players you least expect that find their way onto the scoresheet when everything is on the line.
For Randolph, sophomore Jacob Campbell came into Saturday’s Mennen Cup semifinal with just two goals and six assists to his name this year. Ashton Feinberg, a prototype defensive-defenseman, had 12 assists but no goals.
Naturally, the two both played major roles offensively for the Rams in their biggest game of the year to date.
Campbell finished with two goals and an assist, while Feinberg had a goal and an assist to lead top-seeded Randolph to a 5-2 win over fourth-seeded Morristown-Beard in the semifinals of the Mennen Cup at Mennen Arena.
“I’m super happy we’re going to the finals,” Campbell said. “I’m super proud of the way I played. It’s probably my best game this season. We just shut them down. I’m happy we’re going to the finals. Just a great performance by everybody on the team, especially our goalie Connor Thomas. Made some crucial saves that we needed.”
Randolph, which was without the services of one of its top scorers in Zach Gallo, earned a Wednesday date in the Mennen Cup final, where it will face the winner of Saturday night’s semifinal between second-seeded Chatham and third-seeded Morris Knolls-Hills. It also ended Morristown-Beard’s three-year run of Mennen Cup titles.
After a scoreless first in which it dominated possession, Randolph opened the flood gates in the second period. Campbell opened the scoring with a power play tally midway through the period, before Jase Zangara made a highlight reel move after picking up a loose puck on a 2-on-1 to give the Rams a two-goal advantage.
Hollis Humphries put Morristown-Beard on the board just over a minute later, but Campbell buried his second of the game with 1:19 to go in the second. He was very complimentary of his linemates in Jase Zangara and Andrew George.
“I was working real well with my line,” Campbell said. “We were moving the puck quick and just getting pucks on net. We did everything we needed to do. We played a great game and we worked hard every shift, we took no shifts off. We did what we needed to do and got the little things done.”
Then, Ashton Feinberg beat the buzzer by knocking home a loose puck, which gave Randolph a commanding three-goal advantage.
It was his first goal of the year, and it came at a perfect time.
“ Very important goal,” Feinberg said. “Just focusing the whole game on the offensive parts, have to lock down all parts of the ice. I just saw the puck laying there and it was my chance, so I just buried it.”
Humphries gave Morristown-Beard some life in the opening minute of the third with a goal to cut the deficit back to two, but that was all Randolph would allow. In typical Randolph fashion, it stayed true to its defensive structure and allowed few scoring chances from Morristown-Beard to protect the lead.
In total, it out-shot Morristown-Beard 45-20 for the game. Crimson goalie Julian Melendez made several big stops, including one on a 2-on-0 in the third period. But it was not able to break through again offensively.
Jase Zangara netted his second goal of the game on an empty-netter in the final seconds to seal it.
Now, Randolph will look accomplish the difficult feat of winning the Mennen regular season and Cup titles in the same year, a goal which it has had its eyes on since the start of the year. It’s Randolph’s first title game appearance since a loss to Madison in 2019, and is seeking its first title since 2018- which was also its last win over Morristown-Beard in this tournament.
“It means a lot. That was a really scrumptious win, and we came out really hard,” Feinberg said. “It’s been awhile since we beat Beard in the Mennen Cup, so it feels good.”
He added, “We just have to keep our focus here. We have one goal and that’s been our goal since the first game of the season. So we just have to keep going here.”
SCORING SUMMARY
First period
No scoring.
Second period
RAN — Jacob Campbell (Jase Zangara) PPG 7:47
RAN — Jase Zangara (Andrew George) 4:28
MB — Hollis Humphries (Ryan Tartaglione) 3:09
RAN — Jacob Campbell (Jase Zangara, Ryan Potanovich) 1:19
RAN — Ashton Feinberg (Jacob Campbell)
Third period
MBS — Hollis Humphries (Ryan Tartaglione, Peter Cross) 14:13
RAN — Jase Zangara (Ashton Feinberg) 0:07
Shots on goal: Randolph 45, Morristown-Beard 20
E-mail Mike Gurnis at michaelgurnis@gmail.com
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