By Mike Gurnis
Through a tremendous four-year career at Mendham, Brandon Eigner has established himself as one of the premier two-way defensemen in the state.
On Friday, with his team heading to overtime against a Top 20 team in the state in Kinnelon-Jefferson-Sparta, long-time Mendham coach John Kovacs made the decision to move Eigner up to forward in the 4-on-4 period.
It was unfamiliar territory for Eigner, who rarely, if ever, has played forward for his high school team.
“Not too often in high school. I wasn’t shocked, but I was a little nervous,” Eigner said. “I knew once I was out there, that it was just hockey. I just moved up a little bit. I trust my skating ability to be a good forechecker in overtime as opposed to just sitting back there.”
The move paid off 42 seconds into overtime, as Eigner got in on the forecheck and caused a turnover, and walked in alone to finish off a backhand shot to give Mendham a 4-3 win over KJS United at Skylands Ice World in Stockholm.
It was a two-goal performance for the senior, who has a team-high of 10 goals after this one.
“Coach moved me up to forward for one shift,” Eigner said. “As I’m going down the wall, they had two guys on the wall, and they lost it. I got the puck and looked down in the corner, Denis (Nunan) is standing there waiting, and he was fully covered. So I just walked it in, and saw it open up on the backhand.”
The game-winner came after 45 minutes of back-and-forth hockey between the two teams. Mendham led, 3-1 in the second period off the backs of a goal from Eigner as well as two from Denis Nunan.
But KJS United, which was without its top offensive threat in Braydon Sisco and its top goaltender in Stefan Filewicz, battled its way back. It out-shot Mendham 39-24 in the game, and beat the buzzer with 1.2 seconds left in the second on a goal from Ryan Saletto.
Then, just moments after a chaotic sequence in front of KJS’ freshman netminder Brielle Sisco, Eddie Brown finished off a breakaway to tie the game at three with six minutes left to play.
The final minutes saw several grade-A chances for both squads, but neither team was able to capitalize. KJS out-shot Mendham 11-5 in the third period, but Eigner’s goal- on the first shot of overtime- was all that was needed to decide this one.
While KJS was missing the ever-dynamic Sisco from its lineup, the same could be said for Mendham, which was without its top forward in Kacper Lesiak.
“It’s tough to stay in a game, especially when you’re up two goals and they come back,” Nunan said. “It felt like we lost all momentum, but I feel like we did a good job keeping our heads and staying in that game, and gave it our all in the third and overtime.”
Mendham senior goalie Brendon Eigner continued his spectacular season, stopping 36 of the 39 shots he faced to give his team the chance to win the game. He’s posted a remarkable .930 save percentage while playing most of his games in the top-tier Mennen Division.
There were a lot of question marks going into the season for Mendham, which made the jump to the Mennen Division for the first time in program history. With a smaller roster in terms of numbers than the rest of the division, it was unclear where it would fit in in one of the state’s toughest divisions.
There are plenty of instances where teams make the move from the Halvorsen Division up to the Mennen, only to finish in last place and drop right back down after a difficult season.
That won’t be the case for the Minutemen, who have clinched a spot in the Mennen Cup playoffs with wins in three of its last four divisional games. It currently sits in fifth in the division, with two more divisional games remaining against Randolph and Morristown.
It opened eyes last Saturday with a 3-1 win over Chatham, and since then, has defeated Morris Knolls-Hills, and now the reigning co-op state champion in KJS United.
“I think the main key is that we’ve all been buying in,” Nunan said. “I think every game in the Mennen is going to be a battle. But we all bought in, we all played together, and it’s really helped us.”
He added, “I think we’re picking up a lot of momentum at the right time going into playoffs. I think we can definitely make a push for a championship.”
E-mail Mike Gurnis at michaelgurnis@gmail.com
Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 