By Mike Gurnis
We’re in the home stretch, folks.
This week will be the final week of regular season play across all three divisions, with the Mennen Cup set to get underway Thursday, the Haas on Friday, and the Halvorsen on Saturday.
So, let’s take a look at what we know, what we don’t know, and what’s to be determined as we head into the final days of the regular season.
MENNEN CUP
— Morristown-Beard is locked into the top seed, Randolph will be the second seed, and Chatham is the sixth seed. Morris Knolls-Hills, despite winning back-to-back games over Morristown and Chatham this past week, has been eliminated from Mennen Cup contention.
— The third, fourth, and fifth seeds are all still to be determined. The final Mennen Division game of the regular season is Monday at 8:30 p.m. at Mennen Arena, when Morristown and Mendham play. A win for Morristown would tie it with KJS United for the third seed, and tiebreakers would determine which team gets the three. Mendham would be the fifth seed in that scenario.
If Mendham wins, KJS would be the third seed, Mendham would be the fourth seed, and Morristown would be fifth.
— The Mennen Cup first round is set for Thursday- 6-Chatham will face the third seed at 4:15 p.m., then the fourth and fifth seeds would face off at 6:15 p.m.
HALVORSEN CUP
— West Morris will be the top seed in the Halvorsen Cup. That is the only certainty at this point.
— I’m not going to even go super in depth on what could happen here. Right now, there are four teams (!!!) tied for second with 12 points, all with varying games in hand. Those teams are Park Regional, Madison, Montville, and Mount Olive-Hopatcong-Hackettstown. Park Regional still has three divisional games left, so it is in the driver’s seat for the two seed. Madison has two left, while Montville and Mo-Ho-Ha each have one left- against each other, Wednesday at 4 p.m. So, there is a lot still to be determined here! The dust should settle a bit after Wednesday’s action, when Mo-Ho-Ha and Montville play and then Madison and Park Regional.
— Bernards-Somerville-Middlesex and Roxbury are battling for the sixth and final playoff spot. BSM has 3 points (one game left) and Roxbury has two points (one game left). BSM is set to face West Morris on Tuesday at 8 p.m., while Roxbury will see Madison on Thursday at 6:15 p.m. If both teams lose in regulation, BSM will prevail and get the sixth seed. If either team is to pull an upset and the other loses in regulation, that team will get the six spot. If they both pull the upset, BSM gets the sixth seed.
— The Halvorsen first round is a Saturday doubleheader at Mennen, the third and sixth seeds will play at 4:15, followed by the four/five matchup at 6:15.
HAAS CUP
— Parsippany Regional is locked into the top spot and Gill St. Bernard’s is the second seed. High Point-Wallkill Valley-Kittatinny is the fifth seed.
— Newton-Lenape Valley and Mountain Lakes-Boonton are in contention for the third seed, each with two divisional games left. NLV will face Gill St. Bernard’s on Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Mennen, and then will face Mountain Lakes-Boonton on Wednesday at 7:45 p.m. Mountain Lakes-Boonton will face Morris Catholic on Monday at 4:30 p.m. NLV currently leads by one point.
— The sixth and final playoff spot comes down to Vernon and Morris Catholic-St. Elizabeth. Vernon has three points, MCSE has one point, but Vernon has just one game left and MCSE has two. The two will battle tonight at 8:15 p.m. at Mennen- If Vernon wins in any fashion, it will clinch the final playoff spot. If MCSE wins in regulation, it would tie Vernon and would get the head-to-head tiebreaker (the teams tied earlier this season) and would therefore qualify. If it wins in overtime, it would need at least one point in its game against Mountain Lakes-Boonton on Monday at 4:30 p.m. to qualify.
— The Haas Cup begins on Friday at 5:45 with the third seed vs. the sixth seed, and then the fourth seed and fifth seed High Point-Wallkill-Kittatinny will play Saturday at 8:15 p.m.
E-mail Mike Gurnis at michaelgurnis@gmail.com
Morris-Sussex Hockey Report 