Morristown-Beard rolls into Non-Public quarterfinal

MORRIS TWP. – It's likely to be a most challenging road back to the Prudential Center for the Morristown-Beard hockey team. On Wednesday, the defending Non-Public school champions took the first step.

Picking up where they left off in dominating Chatham in the Mennen Cup title game, the sixth-seeded Crimson scored early and often against an overmatched Red Bank Catholic team, which was coming off a Shore Conference championship of its own, in posting a 6-3 victory over the 11th-seeded Caseys in the opening round of the NJSIAA Non-Public Tournament at Mennen Arena.

The win was the 100th career victory for Morristown-Beard head coach Randy Velischek and pushes the Crimson into the quarterfinals, where the competition will get much tougher against likely opponent and third-seeded Christian Brothers Academy, the team they shared the Non-Public schools title with last March.

"We remember how tough it was last year in the first round against Gloucester Catholic and the shootout win," said the Crimson's Alex Borowiec, who led the way with a pair of goals, giving him 13 on the season. "We wanted to set the tone early. We had a few lulls in the third and we know we're going to have to be better and cleaner in our defensive end in the next round."

The home team dominated from the drop of the puck, finding the back of the net three times on 21 shots in the opening period. Sam Schappel got things going when he opening the scoring just 2:49 into play. Borowiec and Thomas Rago then netted goals nine seconds apart to give Morristown-Beard a three goal lead. Red Bank Catholic had its best scoring chances late in the period, but could not get the puck past Crimson netminder Danny Porth, who continued his postseason shutout string.

The Crimson kept coming early in the second period and extended their lead to 5-0 on when Borowiec and Teddy Hatfield scored in the first 3:50. Brayden Patricia made it 6-0 before the Caseys' sniper Todd Goehring snapped Porth's seven-period postseason shutout streak with a goal just 12 seconds later.

"Danny's (Porth) playing great right now and our offense has been clicking since the Mennen Cup," said Hatfield, who also collected two first-period assists. "This is a good start and a first step. Our main goal is to get back to The Rock."

Morristown-Beard 6,

Red Bank Catholic 3

First period: 1. (MB) Sam Schappel (Teddy Hatfield), 2:49; 2. (MB) Alex Borowiec (Chris Brunner-Grande, Anthony DiCesare), 9:32; 3. (MB) Thomas Rago (Hatfield, Schappel), 9:41. Second period: 4. (MB) Borowiec (Brayden Patricia), 2:02; 5. (MB) Hatfield (Rago, Marc Tietjen), 3:50; 6. (MB) Patricia (Brunner-Grande, Borowiec), 12:40; 7. (RBC) Todd Goehring, 12:52. Third period: 8. (RBC) Max Weber (John Gattuso, Lenny Coviello), 6:34; 9. (RBC) Goehring (Weber, Garrett Bade), 11:18. Shots on goal: Red Bank Catholic 7-9-6—22. Morristown-Beard 21-18-16—55. Goalies: (RBC) Brandon Rozzi, Matt Benjamin (55-49). (MB) Danny Porth (22-19).