FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27
Mendham 6, Montville 3- Game story
Shatel one away from 500
Delbarton defeated Fairfield Prep (Conn.), 6-0 in the William Hanson Invitational at Warrior Ice Arena in Boston, Mass.
It was the 499th win of Delbarton coach Bruce Shatel’s career. He will have his first chance to become the fifth member of New Jersey high school hockey’s 500-win club on Saturday, when the Green Wave take on Catholic Memorial (Mass.) at 4 p.m. in its last game of the William Hanson Invitational.
Dante Rodriguez scored three goals for the Green Wave, who improved to 4-0-1 on the season.
Morristown-Beard stays unbeaten
Morristown-Beard continued its unbeaten start to the season with an impressive 2-0 win over Bergen Catholic at Twin Oaks Ice Rink.
Florian Gao had a goal and an assist and Marcus Cassidy also scored for the Crimson, who are now 5-0-1 on the year. Evan Redman dished out two assists, while Mason Hriczov stopped all 11 shots he faced to earn his first shutout of the season.
It will next face Pingry on Monday in another out-of-conference test.
KJS United continues strong Mennen play
The early surprise of the 2024-25 season has been KJS United’s seamless transition into the Mennen Division. It picked up another impressive win on Friday, as it took down Chatham, 6-0, at Skylands Ice World.
The win gave KJS a season-sweep of Chatham, who it defeated 4-3 in its season opener on Dec. 8. It is now 5-1-1 overall with a 3-1-1 record in the Mennen Division.
Braydon Sisco tallied two goals and two assists for KJS. Jake Prunty had a goal and two assists, while Joe Marino had two helpers. Eddy Brown, Cody Sutton, and Cormac Gibbons each found the back of the net win the win.
Brian Sisti stopped all 20 shots he faced to secure his first shutout of the year.
Chatham dropped to 4-5 overall with the loss.
Randolph snaps losing skid with big win
Randolph’s first two-game losing streak since the 2021-22 season came to an end as it earned a 3-0 win over Ramapo in the Ice Vault Holiday Classic.
The Rams last lost multiple games in a row from Dec. 11-21 in 2021, when it lost three games in a row. It made sure to not go through that again, as Keegan Melly scored two goals to help the Rams improve to 4-2 on the season.
Shane Melly also scored, while freshman goalie Zack Levesque made 12 saves to pick up his second shutout of the year. Randolph out-shot Ramapo, 41-12 in the game.
The Rams will have another test on Sunday, when it takes on defending Public state champion Northern Highlands at 1:30 p.m. at the Ice Vault. The game is a rematch of last year’s North, Public sectional final, which Northern Highlands won, 8-3.
Coaches are asked to e-mail box scores to michaelgurnis@gmail.com so games can be included in our nightly recaps.
Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 