By Mike Gurnis
Over the past few seasons, with Randolph’s talented offensive core, one thing has been apparent: when the Rams score, it usually comes in bunches.
After a scoreless, low-event first period, the Rams suddenly found themselves trailing Morris Knolls-Hills after a goal early in the second. But once Shane Melly broke the ice with a 5-on-3 goal midway through the second, the dam officially broke.
Randolph scored four goals in a span of 6:31 in the second period to take control of the game, en route to a 6-1 defeat of rival Morris Knolls-Hills on Friday evening at Mennen Arena.
“Once you get one goal, the monkey is kind of off your back,” Randolph coach Rich McLaughlin said. “I think they all took a deep breath and started moving again. We started picking up the pace and getting through (Morris Knolls-Hills’) fence. They fence the net, and it’s hard to get through sometimes.”
It was Randolph’s ninth-straight win over its rival, with Morris Knolls-Hills’ last win being a 3-0 defeat which came in the season opener of the 2021-22 season.
Shane Melly continued his outstanding senior campaign with a four-goal output, the second time he has reached that mark this season (he previously had four goals and two assists in an 8-2 win over Bergen Catholic on Dec. 17). He now leads the team with 17 goals and 16 assists for a total of 33 points.
There were just eight total shots on net in the first period between the two teams, and in the second, Morris Knolls-Hills came out with a purpose in the early going. Ryan Nevins found the back of the net 1:20 into the second, and the squad suddenly found itself ahead, 1-0.
“It’s the same old thing with Morris Knolls,” McLaughlin said. “It doesn’t matter if they’re 1-8 or 8-1, it’s always going to be a hard game, especially in the beginning. Their horse (Brandon Strunck) wasn’t here tonight, but it’s always a battle with Morris Knolls, it’s never not a battle. We didn’t work hard enough to get through what they were doing.”
But when Morris Knolls-Hills took back-to-back penalties- the only penalties of the game for either side- opportunity arose for Randolph with a two-man advantage for 1:25. Melly capitalized on the two-man advantage to tie the game with 6:51 to go.
Then, just 1:56 later, Tanner Beaudin scored his first career goal off a feed from Michael Cozza, and Randolph had the lead for good.
“It felt amazing,” Beaudin said of his first career goal. “In front of the student section, the crowd was electric, it felt amazing. (A rivalry game) made it way more special for me.”
Melly added, “I’m super proud and happy for him. He’s been trying for that all season and he’s been grinding every day. It was very deserved.”
Melly would go on to score again 2:05 later, before adding another in the final minute to put the Rams up 4-1. He added an insurance marker 43 seconds into the third, before Cozza netted his second of the year midway through the period to cap the scoring- off a feed from Beaudin.
“Honestly, in between the first and second period, coach gave us a really good talking to,” Beaudin said. “He just told us what we needed to do, and I feel like that just revved us up and got us going. It helped us a lot.”
Goaltender Quincy Mitchell, in just his second start of the season, stopped 16 of 17 shots.
It capped off a strong week for Randolph, which saw it first skate to a 3-3 tie with a very talented KJS United squad on Monday, before earning a statement 7-5 win over a very talented Northern Highlands squad on Wednesday. The team is 4-1-1 in its last six games, with the only loss coming to reigning Public state champion Westfield.
It now stands at 6-4-2 on the season, and also finds itself in the driver’s seat for a top-four seed in the Mennen Cup, with a five-point lead on fifth-place Chatham. Morris Knolls-Hills, which was without its top defenseman in Brandon Strunck, lost its fourth-straight to fall to 2-9 on the season.
“I feel like we’re doing alright, but we’re definitely going to finish strong,” Beaudin said. “I feel very confident with how we’re going to end.”
SCORING SUMMARY
First period
No scoring.
Second period
MKH — Ryan Nevins 13:40
RAN — Shane Melly 6:51 PPG
RAN — Tanner Beaudin (Michael Cozza) 4:55
RAN — Shane Melly (Ryan Thomas, Josh Beasley) 2:50
RAN — Shane Melly 0:30
Third period
RAN — Shane Melly (Caden Milano) 14:17
RAN — Michael Cozza (Tanner Beaudin) 6:42
Shots on goal: Randolph 26, Morris Knolls-Hills 17
Team records: Randolph 6-4-2, Morris Knolls-Hills 2-9.
E-mail Mike Gurnis at michaelgurnis@gmail.com
Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 