Randolph avoids upset with late rally to defeat Morristown

By Mike Gurnis

As the scoreboard clock at Mennen Arena wound down to zero, the final score read: Randolph 6, Morristown 2.

Those who weren’t in attendance in Morris Township or didn’t watch the broadcast of the game will see the final score and assume it was the typical dominant performance from a Randolph team that has had plenty of them over the years.

But if there was ever a game where the final score was not indicative of the game, it was this one.

Morristown, thanks to a spirited effort and an impressive performance from its goaltender, Artie Conover, found itself 6:01 away from one of the bigger upsets of the year. But Randolph struck for four goals in the final five minutes to take the lead and pull away with the 6-2 win.

The wheels came off for the Colonials, when it received two penalties on the same play- one for a cross-check, another for unsportsmanlike conduct with 6:01 left. That sequence gave Randolph the golden opportunity it needed, with a full two minutes of a 5-on-3 advantage.

Randolph took full advantage, as Shane Melly scored the second of his three goals with 4:56 left to tie it, before Jase Zangara gave his team the lead 36 seconds later while it still had a one-man advantage.

“We practice (the power play) at practice,” Melly said. “Vinny (Crisafulli) found me today, and we were just finding each other out there. We were moving the puck well and shooting it. Really (it was about), just putting the puck to the net, just shooting it. Everything to the net.”

But shortly after, the tables turned, and suddenly Morristown had an opportunity to potentially force overtime, as Randolph was called for a penalty with 3:46 left.

Randolph’s penalty kill went to work, though, and managed to strike for two shorthanded goals in a span of 30 seconds. Melly finished off a 2-on-1 feed from Zangara with 3:11 left, before Drew George capitalized on a breakaway to give Randolph a commanding 5-2 lead.

Zangara sealed it with an empty-net goal with 26 seconds left.

“It wasn’t our best game, but at the end of the day, we won,” Zangara said. “We have to come back harder now, and we can’t play down to our competition. We have to come out flying in the next one.”

Five goals in a span of 4:40 wiped away what was an impressive effort from Morristown. Conover finished with 35 saves, and the Colonials were able to stalemate Randolph in the first period before Scott Williams scored 1:41 into the second to give his team the lead.

A too many men on the ice penalty was called late in the second on Morristown, and Melly capitalized on that power play to tie it. But in the final minute, Jake Buonocore scored off a sharp angle shot to give Morristown a 2-1 lead.

As a whole, Morristown kept Randolph completely off the board at 5-on-5 in this game, which is something not many teams can say, especially over the last few years with the talented offensive core of Zangara, George, Crisafulli, Melly, and company.

“You know, Morristown works hard,” Randolph coach Rich McLaughlin said. “They’re really well-coached, and they work hard. I wish we had the same effort that (Morristown) did out there today. Our effort was a little low. You’ve got to work hard. You’ve got to got to find ways to win games that we are expected to win. I don’t want to say we should have blown them out or anything, but we were not the underdog here. I think we came out thinking we were going to blow them out. We didn’t. At the end, we got a couple of goals.”

Special teams ultimately decided this game. Randolph went 3-for-5 on the power play, 3-for-4 on the penalty kill, and scored two shorthanded goals.

While it wasn’t particularly pleased with how it played in the game overall, it was still an important two points for Randolph to pick up as it chases the Mennen Division regular season title and top seed for the Mennen Cup. It is in the midst of a four-game winning streak, which includes an overtime win over St. Joseph of Montvale, as well as dominant wins over Morris Knolls-Hills and Pingry.

The Rams didn’t lose too many players from last year’s team which finished 22-1-1 and lost its only game to Northern Highlands in the North, Public sectional final. It largely cruised through the regular season last year, so McLaughlin made it a point to bolster its out-of-conference schedule to prepare it.

The result of that has been that it has taken some lumps early, including a 5-0 loss to Northern Highlands and a 5-2 loss to Westfield. But the hope for the team as it gets closer to tournament time, is that these games- including the one with Morristown- will prepare it better for the win-or-go home games in the Mennen Cup and state tournament as it chases its first state title since 2019-20.

“We loaded up our schedule this year, a lot different than last year,” McLaughlin said. “We wanted to have a little bit more (adversity). But we’ve got to find ways to pick ourselves up and play as hard as we possibly can for every single game, or we’re going to lose. This is not going to happen by magic that we’re going to win. If you want to play in the playoffs, you’ve got to get there. You want to play in the final, you’ve got to get there.”

He added, “I just wish we could play a little bit more consistent. We played St. Joe’s of Montvale, we looked like a really good team. We beat Pingry, and we beat them pretty good. And I think it got in their heads a little bit. We need to get more consistent with our play overall. Every period, every game, we’ve got to play like it’s our last.”

SCORING SUMMARY
First period
No scoring.
Second period
MOR — Scott Williams (Lucas Gervasio) 13:19
RAN — Shane Melly (Jase Zangara, Vincent Crisafulli) 4:53 PPG
MOR — Jake Buonocore (Luke Williams, Charlie Dvorscak) 0:35 PPG
Third period
RAN — Shane Melly (Andrew George, Vincent Crisafulli) 4:56 PPG
RAN — Jase Zangara (Shane Melly) 4:20 PPG
RAN — Shane Melly (Jase Zangara) 3:11 SHG
RAN — Andrew George (Vincent Crisafulli) 2:41 SHG
RAN — Jase Zangara (Issac Stock, Justin Raeihle) 0:26 ENG

Shots on goal: Randolph 41, Morristown 22
Saves: Artie Conover (Morristown) 35, Zack Levesque (Randolph) 20