27 teams in 27 days, 2023-24: Morristown-Beard boys

MORRISTOWN-BEARD CRIMSON

Head coach: Scott Greene, sixth year (63-43-6 record)

Division: Mennen

NJSIAA Classification: Non-Public

Last year: The 2022-23 season was an up-and-down one for the Crimson, who finished with a 10-13 record. Its 3-5 record in the Mennen Division gave it the fourth seed in the Mennen Cup, where it lost, 5-2, to Randolph in the semifinals. It qualified for the Non-Public state tournament, where it defeated Gill St. Bernard’s, 7-0 in the preliminary round, before suffering a 5-2 loss to Princeton Day in the first round.

Key losses: Morristown-Beard graduated the program’s all-time leading scorer (goals, assists, points) in Hollis Humphries. Forwards Kevin McIntyre and Hutch McDonald are each gone after playing supporting roles last year, while goalie Julian Melendez also graduated after posting an .889 save percentage while seeing most of the work last season. Goalie Casey Connor, who was sidelined by injuries most of the season, would be a junior this year but has transferred to prep school Williston Northhampton in Massachusetts to continue to grow his hockey career.

Top returners: While Humphries’ production will be difficult to replace, the Crimson return four players who finished with double-digits in points last year. Sophomore forward Ryan Tartaglione (7 g., 23 a.), junior forward Nick Squashic (12 g., 7 a.), junior defenseman Evan Jones (4 g., 12 a.), and senior Peter Cross (7 g., 11 a.). Sophomores John Gonnella and Kevin Fraga are two players who Greene expects to make a bigger impact on the scoresheet this year. Defensively, sophomore Logan Turner, senior Grayson Strauss, and junior Robert Magnotta all saw significant time last season and will bring that experience into this year. Sophomore Nick Zayas also is back after his season ended after four games due to an injury last year. Junior Lucas Krzanowski also saw his season cut short due to injuries last year and figures to have a big role.

It will be light on experience in goal, with senior Pierce Brucker playing just two games last year (both of which were shutout wins).

Potential incoming impact players: A freshman forward trio of Hudson Salvador, Florian Gao, and Trenton Fei all figure to contribute right away this year. Freshman goalie Mason Hriczov figures to compete with Brucker for playing time in net.

Burning question: How can Morristown-Beard take a step forward after graduating its top scorer in Humphries?

As already mentioned, Humphries holds the Morristown-Beard program records for goals, assists, and points. That’s not easy production for any team to replace. Fortunately for the Crimson, this was a young team last year that gained a lot of experience and valuable minutes, and one that should continue to grow as the season goes along. The forwards it has coming back will all need to step up, and if the influx of talented freshmen coming in are able to contribute right away, this team can be one that finds the back of the net often.

Outlook: Last year was the rare down year for a Morristown-Beard program that usually reloads, rather than rebuilds.

It saw its three-year run of Mennen Cup titles snapped, and experienced an early exit in the state tournament. While the loss of Humphries- as well as its top netminder in Casey Connor- are major losses, it does have a lot of returning players who all got to experience firsthand the difficulty of playing in the Mennen Division.

Because it is still a relatively young roster with the majority of its impact players being sophomores and juniors, it’s hard to project exactly what can be expected from this group. But it is certainly a group with a lot of potential. If it is able to reach that potential sooner rather than later, this is a team that should be right in the mix for the Mennen Division and Mennen Cup titles.

E-mail Mike Gurnis at michaelgurnis@gmail.com

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