By Mike Gurnis
In order to find the last time Morristown-Beard went more than two seasons without a Mennen Cup title, you would need to go all the way back to 2005.
Since the 2006 season, the Crimson had won the most amount of Mennen Cup titles, winning 11 of the 19 tournaments with two three-peats and one four-peat.
After coming up short in the semifinals each of the last two seasons, the Crimson were determined to reclaim the trophy. It did just that on Monday night, when second-seeded Morristown-Beard withstood a strong second-period surge from fourth-seeded Chatham in a 5-2 win in the 50th Mennen Cup final at Mennen Arena.
It was Morristown-Beard’s 16th Mennen Cup title and first since the 2021-22 season.
“It means a lot to the school, to everyone,” senior defenseman Evan Jones said. “We’ve been working for so long and coming up short for so many years. It means so much to finally get it. It’s all we ever really wanted. We worked for this at the start of every season, and it means so much. It’s meant so much since (winning it) freshman year with my brother (Noah).”
It also marked the fourth title in seven seasons for the program since Scott Greene took over in the 2018-19 season. Much like the teams that three-peated from 2020-22, this team’s overwhelming depth has been on display all season.
On Monday night alone, an eye-popping 11 players found their way onto the scoresheet in a game in which it scored five goals.
“I think (the depth) helped a lot,” sophomore Hudson Salvador said. “I think all our players are skilled and I think what really helped us is we didn’t use all of our skill. We weren’t selfish. We moved the puck, played as a team, and that’s our biggest skill that helped us win the championship.”
The Crimson got off to a quick start, as Marcus Cassidy and Evan Redman each scored in the opening five minutes to build a 2-0 lead. Florian Gao added a goal before the end of the first period to extend the advantage to 3-0.
But, a Chatham squad which was riding high after a semifinal upset of top-seeded Randolph was not going to go away quietly. The Cougars eventually found their game in this one, and got its crowd into it with Roman Kostrowski’s goal 2:20 into the second period. Then, on a power play opportunity a few minutes later, Kieran Brendle capitalized on a perfect feed from Thomas White to cut the deficit to one.
Greene opted to call timeout immediately following the second goal to attempt to curb Chatham’s momentum.
“We called that time out and just told the guys to basically take a deep breath, and that it was going to be a battle,” Greene said. “We knew it would be. That was my biggest worry with getting three goals in the first, you still have 30 minutes left to play. I don’t think we necessarily played poorly. I think Chatham really came out hard, had a nice even strength goal and then the power play goal. We kind of put ourselves in that position with a few penalties to kill off.
“But yeah, just to take a deep breath and focus on basically winning each shift and then trying to win the period. With two periods left as much as we could tie or win the period. They obviously won the second period 2-1, but I think it helped just kind of reset and change the momentum a little bit.”
Later on in the period, Chatham had what appeared to be a big opportunity to tie it up. Isaac Suh skated through the neutral zone and appeared to have a step on the defense for a potential breakaway opportunity.
But Jones was able to get back in time to catch up with Suh and prevent any potential scoring opportunity. Shortly thereafter, Hudson Salvador scored a big goal to restore the two-goal lead for Morristown-Beard.
“On the back check, I just had trust in myself and trust in my legs that I would get him, and trust in my reach so I knew I could get him,” Jones said. “(Salvador’s goal) was huge. It was a big momentum shift. Guys were a little bit down or playing with not as much passion, so that really helped.”
Salvador added, “We were in a bit of a down (swing). We weren’t doing too well right there. So I think that goal just kind of brought our momentum back up, and helped us regroup and come back to where we were starting the game.”
For the rest of the way, the Morristown-Beard defense held strong to secure the win. Mason Hriczov stopped 25 of 27 shots to earn the win.
Now, the Crimson will have their sights set on making a deep run in the Non-Public state tournament. It still has some out-of-conference games scheduled, as it will face Top 20 teams in Bridgewater-Raritan and Seton Hall Prep before beginning the state tournament.
“Our goal is, obviously, we want to advance as far as we can in the state tournament,” Greene said. “We’ve got some games scheduled coming up. Bridgewater-Raritan, Seton Hall Prep and then after that, right into state tournament. But this group is pretty confident that we can make a deep run.”
OTHER NOTES
— Hudson Salvador’s return to the Morristown-Beard lineup has been a massive boost for the Crimson. This team already had plenty of depth, but his late-January return from injury has added another dynamic player to its lineup who can make things happen.
“It’s been great,” Greene said of Salvador’s return. “It gives us a lot more flexibility in the lineup too, for us to move guys around, obviously moving Florian (Gao) down to the third line, and he did very well. He scored a goal today, and kind of helped control play down low. Hudson does well at kind of all positions on the ice for us. He’s a dynamic player, and it just gives teams another player, player to worry about and try to cover. That makes us a little bit more deadly to have a few lines that can really play and score.”
The Crimson have 12 players who have double-digits in points this season, and it’s a huge reason why it is 16-2-1 and was able to claim the Mennen Cup on Monday. Since Salvador’s return, he’s posted two goals and four assists in five games. He figures to be a vital piece up front as this team prepares for the Non-Public state tournament.
“It’s been tough, obviously, not being here,” Salvador said. “But the team’s been really supportive of me, and I’ve been trying to come out to all the games and watch them. I have a great team here. They just always have my back, and I really appreciate it.”
SCORING SUMMARY
First period
MB — Marcus Cassidy (Lucas Krzanowski, Hudson Salvador) 14:07
MB — Evan Redman (Nick Squashic, John Gonnella) 11:47
MB — Florian Gao (Evan Jones, Charlie Fernandez) 2:41
Second period
CHA — Roman Kostrowski (Dean Swift, Isaac Suh) 12:40
CHA — Kieran Brendle (Thomas White, Isaac Suh) 7:11 PPG
MB — Hudson Salvador (Trenton Fei, Robert Magnotta) 1:07
Third period
MB — John Gonnella (Nick Squashic, Evan Jones) 1:01 ENG
Shots on goal: Morristown-Beard 33, Chatham 27
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Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 