HOCKEY

Morristown-Beard girls hockey faces tough test ahead

Dan Breeman
Correspondent

The dates have been circled on the Morristown-Beard girls hockey team calendar since well before the puck dropped on the 2015-16 season.

It’s no secret that the Morristown-Beard team has ruled the Women’s Interscholastic Hockey League of the Mid-Atlantic for nearly a decade, winning seven of a possible eight WIHLMA titles before falling to Shady Side Academy in overtime in last year’s championship tilt.

This weekend, the Pennsylvania school will come calling for a pair of games against the Crimson at Twin Oaks in Morristown, the first meeting between the rivals since last year’s WIHLMA championship overtime thriller.

“Our upcoming weekend series of league games will be a big test and a good barometer to see where we are at,” said Morristown-Beard head coach Bruce Driver, whose team has won its first six games of the season while yielding only four goals against. “With only seven returning players from last season, most of our girls have not experienced playing in one of these weekend series of league games.

“Shady Side Academy of Pittsburgh is the defending WIHLMA league champion, so we will need to be at our best to have success. It will be good for our team to play a strong SSA team twice while they are in town. I’m sure the seven who experienced the overtime championship game last year will be hungry to avenge the heartbreaking loss.”

With only seven returning players, Driver has been forced to rely on young talent to carry the load this season, both up front and on the blueline. Senior Maggie O’Connell, who went 16-1 last season with a 1.29 GAA, is one of the key returnees and has split time in goal thus far with sophomore Lindsay Pych, who has posted three shutouts.

“With such a young team it was unknown how we would play to start the season,” Driver said. “The new girls learned a lot about how we’d like them to play in a short period of time. We’re still working on it but for the most part they have all reacted well.”

The Crimson are especially strong at center ice, where sophomores Ally Detre (9-8-17) and Keegan Heher (4-2-6) have seen the majority of ice time. Freshman Jenna Kurz (5-10-15), who also plays defense, has filled in at the center position when needed but skates alongside Detre and freshman Leslie Phillips. Sophomore Emily Kitchin (1-7-8) has skated well with Heher and freshman Sophia Gallant. Sophomore Jenna Pych (3-6-9) is a leader on the blueline as is returnee Ali Palazzetti, who skate along with freshmen Grace Urbano and Samantha Hutchinson.

“Our young players have been key to a successful start,” Driver said. “We will be working hard on our positional play, transition game, forechecking and power play to continue improving over the last two months. This will give us the best chance to compete for the WIHLMA championship.”

Holiday heroics: Last week saw several area boys teams participate in an array of holiday tournaments, including the Ice Vault Holiday Classic, the Essex Holiday Tournament and the Montclair Holiday Invitational. While no local team was able to lay claim to a title, there were a few noteworthy performances.

Morristown, which may be the early favorite in Public A, skated to impressive victories over Bergen Catholic and Lakeland before falling to Ramsey in the top division at the Ice Vault Holiday Classic. Chatham also posted a pair of victories in the second division over Wayne Hills and Monsignor Farrell (New York) before coming up one goal short against Mahwah.

West Morris was the big winner at the Essex Tournament, scoring victories over Passaic Valley/Cedar Grove and Livingston before being edged by Nutley, which was one of three teams that finished with a perfect record.

Mendham won its opener over Pascack Valley/Hills at the Montclair Holiday Invitational before falling to eventual champion Montclair in the second round and to Montgomery in the third-place game.