By Mike Gurnis
In the Haas division, you never know what you’re going to see on a night-to-night basis.
The season opener on Friday night between the back-to-back Haas Cup champions in West Morris, and Montville, which is back in the Haas after winning the Charette Cup last year, was a perfect example of that.
One might have expected a tight, defensive-oriented game between two Cup championship-caliber squads which expect to be in contention for the title at the end of the year.
Instead, the teams combined for an eye-popping 15 goals, in a wild, back-and-forth contest. In the end, it was West Morris that picked up the all-important two points, as it erased a two-goal first period deficit to down Montville, 9-6 in the Haas opener for both squads at Mennen Arena.
“The offense was on fire, we had nine goals,” Zach Knopf, who finished with a goal and two assists, said. “But the six (allowed), defensively, not our sharpest performance but we can only go up from there. It was a great performance from the rookie goalie MJ in net, and all-around dominance offensively.”
Montville jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the first period behind goals from Logan Engle and Kaden Clifton, despite being out-shot 11-5 in the frame.
West Morris, however, came out flying to open the second period, as it scored three-straight goals- including two in a span of 12 seconds from Knopf and Ben Barnhill- to take the lead. The teams traded goals, until West Morris took the lead for good on a goal from Layton Cummings with 2:58 to go in the second.
“It shows a lot about our character as a team,” Tommy Togno, who had two goals and two assists, said. “We were down 2-0 early, but we battled. We have a lot of firepower on offense this year. If we keep moving the puck well, we’re going to be a very good team.
“I thought we were a little tight in the first. We talked about a lot of expectations for this team. We felt that pressure early on, then we settled into the game and kept up.”
Jake Salamone, Gavin Smith, and Robert Applegate all scored in the opening minutes of the third to give the Wolfpack a commanding 8-4 lead. While Montville did what it could to make it a game late with goals from Cole Riley and Aidan Stepien, West Morris was able to hang on for the win.
The team’s senior leadership shined through, with Michael Ferry, Zach Knopf, Jake Salamone, Tommy Togno, and Nick Dargel all having big roles in this game. When the team needed to put it away in the third, it was able to do just that with Salamone getting the key insurance mark and Knopf setting up freshman Gavin Smith for another to really take control of the game.
“It’s huge, 100 percent,” Knopf said of the team’s killer instinct. “We have a bunch of vets with me, Tommy (Togno), Michael Ferry, Nick Dargel, Jake (Salamone) all together, we have Barny (Benjamin Barnhill) also. A bunch of vets on the team leading the way, and that’s all we have to do to get it done.”
The team has won back-to-back Haas Cups, and while there is still a lot of season left to play, it showcased exactly what it is capable of offensively. With a strong senior core and some impressive incoming freshmen in Rhone Armijo, Shiva Kutikat, Gavin Smith, Dylan Wilmott, and goalie Michael Treiber (15 saves), this team knows that the sky is the limit for what it can accomplish this year.
“We have to clean up a couple of things defensively,” Knopf said. “Honestly, I think we have a very, very, very good team. One of the best teams I’ve ever been a part of. I think we have chance at three-peating.”
Togno added, “We want to improve from each period. We want to be better the next period, from the first period to the next, the third period to the next. We just want to keep improving. That way when it comes February and further, we’re the best team we can be.
“(The expectations are) through the roof. I don’t feel like name-dropping them because I don’t want to put pressure through the media on us. I truly believe we have high expectations in the locker room, and we plan on fulfilling them.”
For Montville, Kaden Clifton finished with a goal and two assists, and Logan Engle had two goals and an assist.
“I think our effort was good,” Montville coach Anthony Iannone said. “They’re a good team. We threw everything we had at them and they just came out on top. Our team’s not one to give up nine goals, so that catches you a little bit off-guard. We’re right back here on Thursday, so we’ll see what we can do.”
THREE STARS
First star: Tommy Togno, West Morris- 2G, 2A
Second star: Jake Salamone, West Morris- 1G, 3A
Third star: Logan Engle, Montville-2G, 1A
SCORING SUMMARY
First period
MON– Logan Engle (Kaden Clifton) 13:42
MON — Kaden Clifton (Logan Engle) 4:37
Second period
WMC — Tommy Togno (Jake Salamone) 13:08 PPG
WMC — Zach Knopf (Jake Salamone) 9:19
WMC — Benjamin Barnhill (Tommy Togno, Shiva Kutikat) 9:07
MON — Logan Engle (Cole Riley, Kaden Clifton) 8:02
WMC — Tommy Togno (Tyler Hill) 6:41
MON — Matt Trifari (Nicolas Ponikowski) 4:29
WMC — Layton Cummings (Zach Knopf) 2:58
Third period
WMC — Jake Salamone (Alex Trezza, Rhone Armijo) 13:44
WMC — Gavin Smith (Zach Knopf) 11:24
WMC — Robert Applegate (Tyler Hill) 9:15
MON — Cole Riley 6:35
WMC — Michael Ferry (Tommy Togno, Jake Salamone) 1:39 PPG
MON — Aidan Stepien (Paul Kounouklos) 1:32
Shots on goal: West Morris 34, Montville 21
Saves: Alexis Riley (Montville) 25, Michael Treiber (WMC) 15
Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 