By Mike Gurnis
To say Morris Knolls-Hills needed this one would be an understatement.
Despite stretches of good play in the early part of the season, the program found itself at 0-4 for the first time in at least the last two decades. Third periods in particular have done the team in against Morristown, Randolph, and Chatham.
It would’ve been hard to blame anyone for having a feeling of deja vu on Friday when Morris Knolls-Hills saw a two-goal lead evaporate over the final two periods. But this time around, Brandon Strunck made sure to make the long bus ride home worth it.
Strunck scored the second of his two goals with 38 seconds left in overtime to propel Morris Knolls-Hills to its first win of the season, a 3-2 overtime win over defending Co-Op champion and NJ.com’s No. 13 team in the Top 20, KJS United at Skylands Ice World in Stockholm.
“We needed that one. That was a huge game,” said Strunck. “The boys fought back. We knew we needed this, it was actually a huge game for our season. We couldn’t have done it without (Nick) Trento in net, Trento played huge, and he got the defense going and everyone was going, from the backend to the forwards.”
Knolls-Hills took control of the game early, scoring three times in a span of 4:48 late in the first period, with Ryan Nevins, Aiden Marvel, and Strunck all finding the back of the net. It out-shot KJS, 15-7 in the first period.
But, even despite the absence of last year’s Mennen Division MVP in Braydon Sisco, KJS made its push to get back in the game. Michael Pandiscia buried a power play goal with 4:08 to go in the second period to give the team some life. Although it didn’t capitalize on two early power plays in the third period, KJS tied the game off a snipe from Eddie Brown with 4:24 to go in regulation.
It felt all too familiar for Knolls-Hills, which has found itself on the wrong side of this far too often in the early going of the season. It lost on a late goal to Morristown in the second game of the season. Against Randolph, it battled back from a two-goal deficit to tie it in the third period, only to surrender three unanswered goals.
In its last game against Chatham on Monday, it again battled back from a two-goal deficit to tie it in the third, only to surrender the next two in a 4-2 loss.
Even with KJS United having the puck for the vast majority of the overtime period, it took just one opportunity, and Strunck buried it off a feed from Dylan Regan. The two goals were the first of the year for the senior.
“It’s nice. It’s the first game we’ve finished,” the senior defenseman said. “We’ve fought back in a lot of games, but this is the first one we actually closed out. It feels amazing going into Mendham on Monday.”
Nick Trento stood tall for Knolls-Hills, stopping 28 of 31 KJS shots, including a breakaway by Cormac Gibbons in overtime.
The team’s penalty kill also rose to the occasion in this one. While it gave up a power play goal in the second period, it killed off two penalties early in the third, not allowing high quality opportunities from KJS.
“We just blocked shots, we got gritty, and we got the puck out of the other team’s end,” Strunck said of the penalty kill. “We killed as much time as we could.”
Now, Morris Knolls-Hills has its sights set on picking up a second win in a row on Monday when it takes on Mendham at 6:30 p.m. at Mennen Arena. It’s been a season of parity in the Mennen Division so far, where any team can beat anyone on any given night, and points are at a premium.
“It feels amazing,” Strunck said. “We just want to be as gritty as we can the next game, and we just want to keep on the winning horse now.”
E-mail Mike Gurnis at michaelgurnis@gmail.com
Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 