By Mike Gurnis
Morris Knolls-Hills entered the North, Public Co-op sectional tournament with an 8-11-1 record, and as the sixth seed, knew it was going to have a difficult road to a sectional title.
After a 5-3 win over a tough 11th seed in Lakeland-Hawthorne-Waldwick in the first round, everything lined up to where if Knolls-Hills was going to win the title, it was going to have to go through the top three seeds in the bracket if everything went chalk.
Everything went chalk on that side of the bracket. But Morris Knolls-Hills brought the eraser.
Knolls-Hills took down third-seeded Pascack Regional in the quarterfinals, before downing second-seeded KJS United in the semifinals. It continued its improbable run with a 6-2 victory over top-seeded Tenafly-Cresskill-Leonia to win the NJSIAA North, Public Co-op title at Codey Arena in West Orange.
Morris Knolls-Hills is heading to the state finals for the fourth time in six years, last winning the Public A title in the 2019-20 season before losing to Gov. Livingston-New Providence in the 2021-22 Public C final. It will face the winner of Thursday night’s semifinal between top-seeded Gov. Livingston-New Providence and second-seeded Manasquan-Point Pleasant Beach in the final on Monday at Prudential Center at 3:15 p.m.
After giving up a goal early, Jack Martinez tied it with 6:13 left in the first period. Then, Brandon Strunck gave it the lead with eight seconds left in the period on the power play.
It extended that lead when Luke Dickerson, who is having a state tournament to remember, scored 6:54 into the second. After Tenafly cut it to 3-2, the score stayed that way until midway through the third period.
Dickerson scored a big insurance goal 7:42 into the third, before effectively sealing the game with 3:15 to go to complete the hat trick. Aiden Marvel added a goal with six seconds left to cap the scoring.
Nick Trento made 23 saves in the win.
Dickerson’s remarkable state tournament continued with the hat trick. Through four state tournament games, he has 13 goals and two assists, recording a hat trick in every game except for the quarterfinals against Pascack Valley-Hills (2 g., 1 a.).
SCORING SUMMARY
First period
TEN — Vlad Malezhik (Devon Knause) 10:48
MKH — Jack Martinez (Jake McCloud, Michael Simone) 6:13
MKH — Brandon Strunck (Michael Simone) 0:08 PPG
Second period
MKH — Luke Dickerson (Jake McCloud) 8:26
TEN — Troy Knause (Chris Bafer) 8:03
Third period
MKH — Luke Dickerson (Dylan Williams, Daniel Onufer) 7:18
MKH — Luke Dickerson (Jake McCloud) 3:15
MKH — Aiden Marvel (Wes Vnenchak) 0:06
Shots on goal: Morris Knolls-Hills 46, Tenafly-Cresskill-Leonia 25
Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 
These awards are voted solely by the coaches in each respective league/division. They are not awarded by objective voters. A former Mennen league coach years ago said that there is lots of “horse trading that is done by each coach as they try to get their player an award by offering to vote for another coach’s preferred player.”
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