By Mike Gurnis
Process over outcome has been a major focus for Gill St. Bernard’s all season long.
So when it fell behind by two goals to a high-powered West Morris team despite playing well to that point, the Knights were not going to get down on themselves.
They remained focused on the process. And in the end, the outcome was the best it could’ve hoped for.
Second-seeded Gill St. Bernard’s erased a two-goal second-period deficit and rallied for a 3-2 overtime win over top-seeded and defending champion West Morris, to win the program’s first-ever Haas Cup title at Mennen Arena.
Michael Scarpati scored once in the second period and again in the third to tie it up, before Julian Tramontano buried the game-winner 2:31 into overtime to spark a wild celebration.
“Coach (DaSilva), all season he’s been saying process over outcomes,” Tramontano said. “Obviously, two outcomes that we didn’t want with two goals. They’re bad bounces, but we didn’t get down over that. We talked to each other and we kept our spirits up. We knew that if we just played our game that we’d be right back in it.”
West Morris, which was looking for the first-ever outright three-peat in the Haas Cup (Park Regional was co-champions in 2011 before winning outright in 2012 and 2013), found itself in a good place early on, with Dylan Wilmott opening the scoring 6:43 into the first period. It doubled the lead in the second when Ben Barnhill fed Tommy Togno for a goal- Barnhill’s 100th career point.
But the run of play was generally even at that point, and the Gill St. Bernard’s bench kept that in mind. Just under seven minutes later, Scarpati scored to cut it to 2-1, and momentum began to shift towards the Knights. The play of Luc Jansson in goal also helped the cause, as he finished with 29 saves.
“Process over outcome,” Gill St. Bernard’s coach Greg DaSilva said. “It’s something we’ve preached since day one. We felt really, really good about our game after the first period. We were down one but we felt like we kind of caught a bad bounce. We felt really good about our game when we were down 2-0 in the second period. It’s cliche to say process over outcome, but we’ve really drilled that into their heads.
“What that actually means is that in both directions, you have to put good and bad outcomes to the side and focus on the things you plan for. They did that. So, nothing changes, and that’s the bottom line. You really try to change nothing if you’re feeling good about where your game is at, and we did.”
Gill St. Bernard’s came out strong in the third period, putting a lot of pressure on West Morris early. That was capped off when Brendan Binder’s breakout pass sprung Scarpati for a breakaway, which he finished off to knot the score at two with 8:33 left.
“That was a little flop pass,” Scarpati said of the goal. “Nobody saw it, I just started wheeling it, and I put a little shimmy on the goalie and scored.”
It had to kill off a penalty in the final minutes of regulation just to get to overtime. Then, just a couple of minutes in, a turnover on a breakout pass by West Morris saw the puck wind up on the stick of Tramontano- Gill St. Bernard’s leading scorer.
His team-high 16th goal of the season will go down as the biggest in program history, to date.
“I’m gonna be honest, I kind of forgot (what happened),” Tramontano said. “The puck just ended up on my stick and I said I’m just going to shoot this thing and hope it goes in. I saw the net kind of flare up, and I knew it went in, and I was just so happy and filled with joy. It was honestly one of the better moments of my life”
Making the title all the more impressive, is the roster size for Gill St. Bernard’s. The team only has 13 skaters on its roster, yet went toe-to-toe with a very deep West Morris squad in two of the three meetings this season. It earned a 1-1 tie on Jan. 4, before falling, 8-0 on Jan. 13- a game in which Tramontano was absent.
“It’s so crazy. I can confidently say that even with 13 guys, it feels like we have 30 in there,” Tramontano said. “The energy is so good. Everyone’s working hard and everyone is playing for each other. We’re not big in numbers, but we’re big in heart, that’s for sure.”
It all came just one season after Gill St. Bernard’s narrowly missed out on a Haas Cup berth. It had won three games in a row to close out Haas Division play in 2022-23, and finished tied for the final Haas Cup spot. But the tiebreaker went to Park Regional, and the Knights had to sit and watch as Park went on a run to the final, falling in overtime to West Morris.
This year, no tiebreakers were needed. Gill St. Bernard’s finished 7-2-1 in the Haas to finish in second place- its highest finish in the standings in program history.
“Last year definitely (ticked) us off,” Tramontano said. “We definitely started off slow but we ended hot. We all thought we deserved a chance. This year, we (came out with) a vengeance, and we had a goal in mind. It feels good to know that we proved them wrong and that Gill (St. Bernard’s) is a real team.”
SCORING SUMMARY
First period
WMC — Dylan Wilmott (Tommy Togno, Ben Barnhill) 7:17
Second period
WMC — Tommy Togno (Ben Barnhill) 13:43
GSB — Michael Scarpati (Brendan Whiteley) 6:58
Third period
GSB — Michael Scarpati (Brendan Binder) 8:33
Overtime
GSB — Julian Tramontano 12:29
Shots on goal: West Morris 31, Gill St. Bernard’s 26
Saves: Luc Jansson (GSB) 29, Michael Treiber (WMC)
Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 