By Mike Gurnis
We’re just about a full week into the season, and with that, let’s talk about some of the noteworthy things that have popped up in the first week.
— I talked up KJS United quite a bit in my preseason notebook, including that my pick for a preseason Player of the Year would be Braydon Sisco. When word came down that Sisco would not be available for his team’s season opener against powerhouse Randolph on Friday due to him being called up to the USHL’s Tri-City Storm, it seemed like an already challenging game was going to be that much tougher.
So when I saw that KJS United prevailed, 8-6, at Skylands Ice World, my jaw dropped. Obviously, there are no upsets this early in the season with teams still forging their identities. But this jumped out at me for a number of reasons. We’ll start with the obvious: KJS scored eight (!) goals without its most dynamic player, which is extremely impressive. I’m not sure anyone saw that part of it coming, but a four-point night (3 g., 1 a.) for Cormac Gibbons and a three-point night for Eddie Brown (2 g., 1 a.) helped pace this squad.
The next thing that jumped out to me: Randolph out-shot KJS United, 38-17 in this game. When you see that type of shot total, you assume with that type of disparity, that if the team leading in shots didn’t win, it likely got “goalied” and lost 2-1 or something along those lines. That’s not what happened here- Randolph still found the back of the net six times on an outstanding netminder in KJS’ Stefan Filewicz.
It will be very interesting to see where each squad goes from here- KJS takes on a strong Morristown squad on Friday (we’ll see if Sisco is back in the lineup for that one). Randolph, on the other hand, responded with a 6-3 win over rival Morris Knolls-Hills on Tuesday night and will have a huge test against Morristown-Beard on Thursday.
— Speaking of Sisco, he appeared in two games this weekend for the Tri-City Storm in the USHL for its American Cup games against the Youngstown Phantoms. He did not get on the scoresheet in either game as Tri-City went 0-2.
— Big congratulations goes out to Parsippany Regional’s Robert Hemenway on being the first player from the area to reach 100 career points this past weekend. In a 4-2 win over Bayonne-Belleville-McNair, Hemenway scored a power play goal late to put the game away, which was the 63rd goal of his career and the 100th point of his career. In total, he has 63 goals and 37 points for his career.
He’s part of an impressive core at Parsippany with his brother, Matthew Hemenway, Andrew Nicholas, and Kaden Bland, which looks like an early-season favorite in the Haas-Charette Division.
— Some big news for Pope John- its standout goaltender from two seasons ago in Anthony Connetta, is back this year. After a year at Rice Memorial Prep in Vermont, he’s back for his senior year for the Lions. In case you forgot, Connetta was outstanding in his sophomore campaign, posting a .920 save percentage with an eye-popping seven shutouts, and earning Second Team All-State honors from NJ.com.
He picked up right where he left off in the Lions’ season opener on Monday, with a 30-save shutout in a 4-0 win over St. Joseph of Metuchen. Between him and junior Mason Giordano, who had a solid season last year, Pope John might have one of the best goaltending tandems in New Jersey.
— Speaking of picking up where you left off, Delbarton has done just that to start the year. The reigning Non-Public state champions knocked off LaSalle (Pa.) and Princeton Day by a combined score of 9-1 to open the year. It surrendered a combined 22 shots in those two games, with eight different players finding the back of the net offensively. The machine just keeps on rolling.
— As for the girls side, Morristown-Beard looks dominant to start the season. The Crimson are 4-0 and have won by a combined score of 27-2. Three of those games came against out-of-state competition, but the one in-state game was an 8-0 win over Summit. This team already had some talented veteran players in defenseman Reid Snyder, forward/defenseman Keira Walsifer, senior forward Sylie Sawale, sophomore forward Emma Fuchs, and senior goalie Hannah Mortazavi, but a big incoming freshman class has helped this program reload.
In total, Bruce Driver’s program brought in eight freshmen this season, and many have made big contributions already. Defenseman Kallen Peterson leads the team with 10 points (5 g., 5 a.), while defenseman Sophia DeLaura has eight (1 g., 7 a.), and forward Jamie Jasaitis has six (1 g., 5 a.). Not bad!
— This week, I’m headed to Mennen Arena on Friday night for a doubleheader. Madison vs. Mount Olive-Hopatcong-Hackettstown at 5:45, followed by Park Regional vs. Montville at 7:45 p.m. I’ll have a full story on both games.
E-mail Mike Gurnis at michaelgurnis@gmail.com
Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 