By Mike Gurnis
It feels like just yesterday I was walking out of Prudential Center at 11:30 p.m. in March after a highly eventful day of state finals.
Almost nine months later, it’s time for another high school ice hockey season. The season kicks off on Thursday across the state. In our area, specifically, a solid opening day triple-header is on tap for Mennen Arena. Randolph and Morristown open Mennen division play at 4:15, followed by Newton-Lenape Valley and Morris Catholic-St. Elizabeth in a Charette battle at 6:15. It’s capped off by another big Mennen showdown between Morris Knolls-Hills and Chatham, which played three highly competitive and eventful games last winter, capped off by a dramatic win for Chatham in the Mennen Cup semifinals.
This will mark my sixth year of running this website, and my 10th overall year of covering the sport statewide. It’s crazy how time flies, but I’m still enjoying covering this sport as much- if not more- than I did when I started back in 2014.
So what can you expect to see on the Morris-Sussex Hockey Report this season?
Well, you can expect the same level of dedication as always. Every morning, there will be a schedule of the area games posted, and at night, there will be a recap of all the games from that day. About once or twice a week (usually on weekends) I’ll make my way out to Mennen Arena or Skylands Ice World to do a full story on a game or two.
Every Sunday, starting Dec. 17, we will have my picks for the area three stars of the week, as well as rankings of the area teams. I’ll also try to put together a weekly notebook of general thoughts and observations about what’s going on in the area.
One thing I plan on making a bigger part of this site’s coverage this year: Feature stories. Sure, game stories are nice and are important, but I think it’s also very important to tell the individual stories of some of the athletes and coaches in this area. That’s something I hope to do a lot more of this season.
CHANGES ACROSS THE STATE
There will be some noticeable changes to high school hockey in New Jersey this winter.
The most immediate change you’ll see, is the addition of regular season overtime. As opposed to games just ending in a tie after 45 minutes of regulation, games will now have a five-minute, sudden death overtime period of 4-on-4. If nobody scores in the overtime, the game ends in a tie.
I think this is a very, very welcome change, and clearly there was an appetite for it. NJ.com’s Brian Bobal, a great friend of mine, wrote an article after last season about how this was a needed change, and coaches across the state who he polled were overwhelmingly in favor of it. I can’t tell you how many times over the years I’ve watched or covered a game that ended in a tie, and thought to myself how much fun it would be to see the teams get a few more minutes of 4-on-4.
The 4-on-4 will mean more open ice for the players, and thus an opportunity for players to really show off their creativity. If nothing else, it will add some additional entertainment to the regular season.
Another change this year is the change to the Public groups for the state tournament. The last two seasons, there were four groups: Non-Public, Public A, Public B, and Public C (co-op). There had been four groups for a few years prior, but Public C specifically became a Co-op group in 2021-22.
Now, Public A and B have been condensed into one public group. So, there will be champions in Non-Public, Public, and Co-op. This is a change that I like, as I think with the amount of teams that ice hockey has compared to other sports, there isn’t a need for multiple public champions for a sport that has fewer than 100 teams.
Additionally, the public groups have been split into North and South sections. Essentially, the North and South sectional champions will meet in the state finals at Prudential Center for Public and Co-op. The round which used to be the state semifinals will now be the sectional finals.
This is one change that I can go either way on. I understand the appeal- by splitting into North and South sections, you will cut down on travel in the earlier rounds. For instance, you won’t have Montville traveling an hour down to Middletown North for a first round game.
On the other hand, the thing I’ve always liked about the hockey state tournament is that the end goal was always to have- presumably- the two best teams playing in each group at Prudential Center. Granted, it doesn’t always work out that way. Upsets happen. It’s hockey.
But let’s say, hypothetically speaking, Randolph and Morris Knolls are the two best Public teams in the regular season. There would be no chance of them meeting in the state final, the best you would get would be the North sectional final.
So, I get both sides here. I’ll be interested to see how that works out this year come state tournament time.
WHERE I’LL BE THIS WEEK
I have prior commitments on both Thursday and Saturday, so unfortunately I’ll be missing high school hockey opening day for the first time in my career on Thursday.
I’m heading over to Mennen on Friday night for a double-header. First is a big Haas matchup between West Morris and Montville at 5:45, followed by a crossover between Morristown-Beard and Mount Olive-Hopatcong-Hackettstown at 7:45.
I’m not 100 percent sure yet, but Sunday I am hoping to attend Delbarton vs. Don Bosco at the Ice Vault at 6 p.m.
E-mail Mike Gurnis at michaelgurnis@gmail.com
Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 