By Mike Gurnis
Monday was a big day for the Morris/Sussex area at the NJSIAA State Championships at Prudential Center in Newark.
Four state championship games were played in the Public, Public Co-Op, Non-Public, and Girls groups.
From the Morris/Sussex area, two teams left the home of the New Jersey Devils as state champions. Delbarton defeated Christian Brothers, 5-1, in the Non-Public final, while KJS United capped an incredible run as the eighth-seed to win the Co-Op final, 4-3 over Malboro-Holmdel.
Let’s take a look at each team’s championship victory.
The drought ends for Delbarton
The team with the most championships in state history had gone way too long without one, says coach Bruce Shatel.
The Green Wave had last won in 2018, when it capped off a three-peat by downing Don Bosco in that year’s Non-Public final. Since then, it had been back to the final three times, falling to Don Bosco in 2019, before losing to CBA in 2022 and then St. Augustine in 2023.
This time around, it was determined to bring home the elusive 14th state title, and it did just that. Dante Rodriguez had two goals and an assist as Delbarton took down Christian Brothers, 5-1, in the NJSIAA Non-Public championship game.
“I don’t think people fully understand how difficult it is to finish and win on this day,” Shatel said. “It’s not an accident. It’s not about Lady Luck, it’s about a whole different variety of things. Staying healthy, playing well at the right time of year, and special teams and all that stuff.
He added, “It’s been too long for us. It’s been since 2018, and I started to hear a little bit of rumblings about it throughout the year. It was kind of annoying, to be honest with you. I’m just so glad I could shut you guys up about it.”
Jack Gerne, the Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau MVP of the Non-Public final, opened the scoring early in the second. Shortly after CBA’s Nick Desiderio tied it up, the Green Wave responded immediately as Sean O’Gwen- the hero of the semifinal win over St. Joseph- scored 43 seconds later to give his team the lead for good.
“I think Sean found his confidence,” Shatel said. “He’s a sophomore and he shoots the puck a ton. We’ve held the reins back on him. He wants to play on the offensive side of the puck way too much. Thankfully, he found that balance in the last few weeks where he picked his spots at the right time. That shot is pretty lethal, and the way he responded gave us the momentum right back.”
Rodriguez scored again before the end of the second to make it 3-1. He then buried an empty-netter late, before Jack Ross scored a power play goal to cap the scoring. George Cote was fantastic in net, stopping 29 of 30 shots to secure the state championship.
Delbarton finished the year with a sparkling 22-1-1 record. It’s only loss came to Brunswick (Conn.), so it went unbeaten against in-state opponents this year, a very difficult feat to accomplish.
It swept all four meetings against Christian Brothers this year.
KJS United rallies in third period to win Co-Op title
For a program which had dominated its way through the state tournament, KJS United found itself in an unfamiliar spot in Monday’s Co-Op final.
A team which had outscored its opposition 26-7 through four state tournament games found itself trailing, 2-1, going into the third period on Monday. There wasn’t very much space for KJS’ dynamic group of forwards, highlighted by Braydon Sisco, to operate through two periods.
But if you leave the door cracked open for Sisco and Co., they’ll eventually break down that door.
That’s what happened, as Sisco scored 4:22 into the third period to tie it and then gave his team the lead 2:47 later. Cormac Gibbons’ goal with 3:08 left to put his team up two proved to be the game-winner as KJS United defeated Marlboro-Holmdel, 4-3, to win the Public Co-Op title.
“That (second intermission) break was definitely helpful,” Sisco said. “We’ve been down 2-1 before going into periods, so we knew we could come back. The biggest thing for us was just to stay confident and not get down on ourselves. That’s what we did, and it kind of propelled us and helped us.”
Sisco was named the Johnny & Matthew Gaudreau Most Valuable Player for the Co-Op final. He finished with two goals and an assist, and his two goals brought him to 50 on the year. He had 17 goals in five state tournament games.
“I mean, it’s such an honor,” Sisco said. “Especially coming from the award getting named after the Gaudreau brothers and being able to kind of represent them, it’s just an unreal achievement. It’s one I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Marlboro-Holmdel built that 2-1 lead thanks to goals from Sasha Saks and Zachary Price. Saks struck again for his second just eight seconds after Gibbons’ goal to cut its deficit to one. But KJS, thanks to outstanding goaltending from Brian Sisti, was able to keep it off the board to secure the championship.
“It feels amazing,” Sisti said. “I couldn’t do it without these guys. It’s just amazing.”
KJS went through an up-and-down season, looking like one of the top teams in the state in December, before club commitments, injuries, and illnesses hit the team hard in January causing it to drop off. But as the eighth seed, it found its way just in time for the state tournament, and became the lowest seed to win a state title since West Essex-Caldwell in 2010.
It was the first title since the tri-op was formed in 2020. Kinnelon had previously won a state championship in 2008, and defeated Jefferson in the Public B final that year. Sparta, however, has never been to a state championship game as a solo program.
Jeff Myhren was the coach for Kinnelon’s title in 2008, and oversaw the formation of the tri-op in 2020. It had two losing seasons in the first two years of the tri-op, before it went unbeaten in the Halvorsen Division the last two seasons, culminating with a Halvorsen Cup title last winter. It made the jump up to the Mennen Division this year, and in its first year, can call itself state champions.
“Oh, it’s fantastic,” Myhren said. “You know, in the beginning it was a little clicky, which was bound to happen. You got three schools coming together and guys are used to a certain system and playing certain teams and entering certain tournaments. We said, no, this is the way we’re going to do it, and the boys have come together. That first year was a learning experience. We improved. We played some tough games then. Then we grew and grew, and in two years I don’t think we lost a conference game.”
It suffered a big setback when it lost its top defenseman in Jake Prunty during the team’s sectional semifinal win over West Essex. He was relied on to match up against the opposition’s top offensive threat, yet KJS was still able to find its way to the championship even in his absence in the last two games.
“I’ve got to say, Jake Prunty got us here,” Myhren said. “I don’t think we allowed a goal when he was on the ice throughout the first three games of state playoffs.”
Myhren added, “The boys bought in and then they started to believe. Early in the season we played some top tier teams really well, and it was like, I think we belong here, and then we rode that and then I think January was kind of like, we fell off the rails a little bit, but we rallied big.”
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Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 