NORTH, PUBLIC
Survive and advance is the name of the game in the state tournament, and Randolph did exactly that on Tuesday in the North, Public semifinals at SportsCare Arena.
The Rams rallied from an early two-goal deficit, and Daniel Sharkey scored the dramatic go-ahead goal with 44 seconds left to propel top-seeded Randolph to a 5-3 win over fourth-seeded Ridgewood.
Ridgewood’s Jack Sherman and Tyler Fitts scored first period goals to give it a two-goal advantage. Andrew George buried a power play goal midway through the second period to cut the deficit to one, before Daniel Sharkey and Keegan Melly scored 41 seconds apart early in the third to give Randolph its first lead of the game.
That lead was short-lived when Ridgewood’s Finn Doherty scored 2:44 later to tie it up. Randolph, to the tune of a 48-16 shot advantage in the game, threw everything it could towards Ridgewood goalie Jack Scali but the game appeared to be heading to overtime.
But Sharkey took advantage of a failed clearance at the blue line by Ridgewood, and broke in all alone and ripped home the go-ahead goal. Off the ensuing faceoff, Scali came out to play the puck to push it up ice in an effort to generate a rush, but the puck went right to Randolph’s Jase Zangara, who fired it into the empty net to effectively seal the win.
Randolph kept its perfect season alive, and is now 22-0-1. It will take on second-seeded Northern Highlands in the North, Public sectional final on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Mennen Arena.
In the other semifinal, third-seeded Chatham saw its season come to an end with a 5-1 loss to second-seeded Northern Highlands at Sport-O-Rama in Monsey, N.Y.
Matt Nacinovich scored a buzzer-beater to tie the game at one to end the first period, but it was all Northern Highlands from that point on, as Jake Baratta finished with three goals and an assist.
Chatham’s season ended with a 16-9 record.
NORTH, PUBLIC CO-OP
Multi-goal performances have been a regularity throughout Luke Dickerson’s career for Morris Knolls-Hills. But his performance on Tuesday afternoon will go down as one of the more memorable ones in program history.
The senior scored all five of his team’s goals, including the go-ahead goal with 2:10 left and the empty-netter to seal it to lift sixth-seeded Morris Knolls-Hills to a 5-3 win over second-seeded KJS United in the North, Public Co-op semifinals at Skylands Ice World.
It will take on the winner of top-seeded Tenafly-Cresskill and fifth-seeded West Milford-Pequannock on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Codey Arena. It will be the program’s fourth state semifinal (now sectional final) appearance in the last five state tournaments, and will look to reach the state final for the fourth time since 2018.
Knolls-Hills, as the sixth seed, has now defeated third-seeded Pascack Valley-Hills and second-seeded KJS United in back-to-back games. It also avenged an early-season 4-0 loss to this same KJS United squad back in early December.
It got out to a quick start with Dickerson scoring twice early in the first to build a 2-0 lead, and after Cormac Gibbons cut the deficit to one, Dickerson netted a goal with seven seconds left in the period to restore the two-goal advantage.
KJS, though, rallied with a goal from Anthony Pandiscia in the second and another from Michael Pandiscia early in the third to tie the score up at three. But Dickerson responded with the go-ahead with 2:10 left, before ending the game with an empty-netter with six seconds remaining.
Morris Knolls-Hills goalie Nick Trento made several big saves throughout the game and finished with 23 saves.
KJS United saw its season end with a 17-5 record after winning the Halvorsen Cup title.
E-mail Mike Gurnis at michaelgurnis@gmail.com
Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 