ROCKAWAY - It's not exactly a "Wait Till Next Year!" speech, but Morris Hills High School ice hockey head coach Ed Higdon, does see hope for improvement in the future ... as in next season.
The Knights completed a 6-18-2 season with a 12-1 loss to Roxbury (16-4-1) in a Haas Cup semifinal played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Saturday, Feb. 20, a season that was a step up from the 1-14-1 record turned in by the 2008-09 squad.
"I have to be happy with the team’s improved record," Higdon said. "And I’m happy with the many areas in which our players improved during the season, too.
"The returning players have the ability to continue improving their play, which will hopefully offset the loss of our seniors.”
Senior Shawn Concannon led the team in scoring this past season with 13 goals and eight assists for 21 points.
Higdon sees freshman Brian McKnight - the Knights’ second leading point producer with 10 goals and three assists for 13 points - as one of the underclassmen stepping up a notch for next season.
“McKnight did very well for us,” Higdon said. “He should be able to increase his numbers next year, too. We’ll be giving all our incoming freshman a good look next year to see what they have to offer.”
As for the game against Roxbury, the Gaels scored twice in the game's first 1:18 before Morris Hills got its lone goal when Bryan Brownlee - the team’s No. 3 scorer at 4-5-9 - scored on the power play with an assist from McKnight to pull to within one with 9:48 to play in the period.
But Roxbury went ahead 3-1 with 6:22 left and then proceeded to score five more goals in the final 5:15 of the first period to take a commanding 8-1 lead. Roxbury scored four more times in the second period before the game was stopped by the mercy rule after two periods of play.
Andrew Shattuck had 17 saves in the first period for the Knights while Jeff Diredack finished up and had 12 saves in the second period.
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MH nips MC, faces Roxbury next in Haas semifinal
ROCKAWAY - Morris Hills is moving on to the Haas Cup semi-finals after the Knights defeated Morris Catholic, 3-2, in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League preliminary-round playoff game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Thursday, Feb. 18.
Morris Hills will now face Roxbury on Saturday at Mennen at 8:15 p.m. with the winner moving on to the Haas Cup final.
Bryan Brownlee’s unassisted goal - his third goal of the season - with 36 seconds remaining in the second period proved to be the game winner for the Knights (6-17-2), who beat Morris Catholic (1-21) twice in regular-season games.
The Knights took a 2-0 lead in the first period on Austin Yannis' fourth goal of the season, an unassisted goal just 1:59 into the game; and Shawn Concannon’s team-leading 13th goal, a power-play goal with an assist from John Morrison.
Morris Catholic pulled to within a goal 6:55 into the second period before Brownlee scored a power-play goal with an assist from Brandon Gomez.
Morris Catholic scored the only goal of the third period with 36 seconds left in the game.
Jeff Dirdack and Andrew Shattock split time in goal for the Knights and each finished with 13 saves. Morris Hills put 19 shots on the Morris Catholic goal.
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Knights lose to Parsippany Hills, 6-2
ROCKAWAY - The Morris Hills High School hockey team completed its regular-season schedule on Monday, Feb. 15, with a 6-2 loss to Parsippany Hills in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League Charette Division game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township.
Shawn Concannon and Bryan Brownlee scored the goals for the Knights with Concannon scoring his team-leading 12th goal and Brownlee his second of the season.
The loss marked the fifth straight game (0-4-1) the Knights have not secured a victory.
Patrick Lyness assisted on Concannon’s goal and Brian McKnight and Concannon assisted on Brownlee’s goal. Morris Hills goal Jeff Dirdack made 43 saves in the game while the Knights finished with 18 shots on goal.
Morris Hills, 5-17-2 overall, finished in fourth place in the Charette Division with a 2-11-1 record and will face fifth-place finisher Morris Catholic (1-19 overall, 0-13 league) in a preliminary game for the combined Haas/Charette Cup on Thursday, Feb. 18, at Mennen Arena at 8:15 p.m.
The Knights last victory was a 4-0 win over Morris Catholic in a game played on Wednesday, Jan. 27, with McKnight scoring a three-goal hat trick. Morris Hills also beat Morris Catholic, 4-3, in the second week of the season.
Morris Catholic’s only win was a 2-1 non-league victory over High Point, a team that beat Morris Hills by the same score to start the Knights off on their current five-game non-winning streak.
The Morris Hills-Morris Catholic winner goes on to face the Haas Division champion in a Cup quarterfinal on Saturday, also at Mennen and also at 8:15 p.m. The Haas champ has yet to be decided with Roxbury (10-1-1, 21 points) and Madison (10-2-1, 21 points) tied for first with Roxbury having a game in hand.
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Knights lose to Dayton; McKnight scores twice for Hills
ROCKAWAY - Morris Hills' third-period comeback fell a goal short as the Knights lost a 3-2 decision to Dayton in a high school hockey game played at Mennen Arena on Friday, Jan. 12.
Trailing 3-0 going into the final period, freshman Brian McKnight put the Knights on the board with a power-play goal, converting a pass from Justin Londona with 7:04 left to play in the game.
Down a man with time running out, McKnight scored his 10th goal of the season with an assist from Devin Long with 1:40 remaining. McKnight has now scored five goals in his last two games for the Knights.
Morris Hills goalie Jeff Dirdack finished the game with 43 saves as the Knights record slipped to 5-16-2 for the season. Dayton improved to 8-11-1.
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Gomez late goal gives Knights 5-5 tie with Scotch Plains
ROCKAWAY - Brandon Gomez scored his second goal of the season with 7:21 left in the game to bring Morris Hills back to a 5-5 tie against Scotch Plains in a high school hockey game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Monday, Feb. 8.
Brian McKnight scored a three-goal hat trick in a span of a little more than six minutes between the first and second periods for the Knights. McKnight now has eight goals and one assist for the Knights, who are 5-15-2 for the season. Scotch Plains 3-14-2.
Morris Hills took a 1-0 lead on Brian Salvesen's goal off a pass from Justin Londono 4:15 into the game only to have Scotch Plains tied it up 10 seconds later.
McKnight scored his first goal with an assist from Salvesen with 6:09 left in the period and then scored an unassisted power-play goal with 29 seconds left to give the Knights a 3-1 lead after one period of play.
McKnight made it 4-1 with another unassisted goal with the third period only 10 seconds old, but Scotch Plains twice before the second period was five minutes old to cut Morris Hills' lead to a goal at 4-3, where it stayed for the rest of the period.
Scotch Plains took the lead at 5-4 by scoring twice in the first 5:19 of the third period - giving the team four unanswered goals.
Gomez then scored the tying goal for the Knights, converting a pass from Austin Yanas, to finish the scoring for the game.
Morris Hills goalie Jeff Dirdack finished the game with 27 saves while the Knights put 27 shots on the Scotch Plains nets.
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Knights lose, 3-2, on West Oranges' two 3rd-period goals
ROCKAWAY - Morris Hills took a one-goal lead into the third period only to see West Orange score on two power-play goals within a three-minute span to hand the Knights a 3-2 loss in a high school hockey game played at Cody Arena in West Orange on Saturday, Feb. 6.
Brian Salvesem scored on assists by Patrick Lyness and Jennifer Zirkel to give Morris Hills a 1-0 lead 10:08 into the game.
In the second period, Justin Londono's goal at the 8:39 mark on assists by Jeff Dirdack and Zirkel offset West Orange’s first goal.
Morris Hills, holding on to its 2-1 lead, was penalized for cross-checking and West Orange scored the tying goal on the ensuing power play. A little more than two minutes later, Morris Hills was penalized again and West Orange scored another power-play goal, the goal that proved to be the game-winner.
Dirdack finished the game with 25 saves for Morris Hills (5-15-1) while Morris Hills put 20 shots on the West Orange goalkeeper. West Orange improved to 3-15-1 with the victory.
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Par Hills stops Knights, 3-0
ROCKAWAY - Parsippany Hills scored twice in the final 1:33 of the first period and went on to register a 3-0 victory over Morris Hills in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Wednesday, Feb. 3.
Parsippany Hills (3-12) broke a scoreless tie with 1:33 left in the first period and made it 2-0 with a goal with once second left in the period to take a lead it never lost.
Morris Hills (5-14-1) had all 18 shots on goal stopped by Par Hills goalie Brian Mitchell while Knights’ goalie Jeff Dirdack had a very busy night in the nets as he finished with 40 saves.
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Knights lose to High Point, 2-1; Concannon scores 11th
ROCKAWAY - Shawn Concannon scored the only goal of the game for Morris HIls as the Knights, who had won three of their last four, lost a 2-1 decision to previously winless High Point in a game played at Skyland Arena in Stockholm on Friday, Jan. 29.
After a scoreless first period, Concannon’s 11th goal of the season - a power-play goal with an assist by Justin Londano - gave Morris Hills (5-13-1) the lead only to have High Point (1-13) tie the game less than two minutes later and then score the winning goal with less than four minutes left in the second period.
There was no scoring for the rest of the game as the goalies and defenses took control.
Morris Hills finished with 33 shots on goal; High Point had 23.
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McKnight's hat trick helps beat Morris Catholic
ROCKAWAY - Freshman Brian McKnight broke out with a three-goal hat trick and Andrew Shattuck stopped all 26 shots he faced as Morris Hills defeated Morris Catholic, 4-0, in a high school hockey game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Wednesday, Jan. 27.
After a scoreless first period, McKnight scored his first goal 5:39 into the second period, a power-play goal with assists from John Morrison (his first point of the season) and Shawn Concannon. Five minutes later, Brian Salvesen scored with an assist from Concannon to give the Knights a 2-0 lead.
McKnight scored the only two goals in the third period within a three-minute period to complete his hat trick. McKnight’s scored an unassisted short-handed goal with 9:40 left and added an even-strength goal with an assist from Concannon with 6:36 to play in the game to end the scoring.
The victory was the third in the last four games for the Knights, who are now 5-12-1. Morris Catholic fell to 1-15 with the loss.
McKnight had scored two goals and had three points coming into the game and now has a line of 5-1-6 to double his previous output.
Concannon, the team’s leading scorer with 10 goals and 7 assists for 17 points, turned playmaker for the game with his three assists.
"They were keying on Concannon and his opportunities were limited," said Morris Hills coach Ed Higdon after the game. "But he found McKnight and McKnight put himself into the right place and was able to finish three times.
"We’ve been using Concannon, McKnight and Bryan Brownlee on the same line all the time now and they seem to be having the most success at the moment."
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Short-handed Knights fall to Livingston, 4-0
ROCKAWAY - Playing with three of its five defensemen sidelined due to injury or illness, Morris Hills lost a 4-0 decision to Livingston in a high school hockey game played at Codey Arena in West Orange on Monday, Jan. 25.
Hills goaltender Andrew Shattuck finished the game with 35 saves while the Knights were able to put only 14 shots on a pair of Livingston goalies.
The loss broke a two-game winning streak for Morris Hills and saw its record slip to 4-12-1. Livingston improved to 7-7-2 with the victory.
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Concannon hat trick give Hills second straight win
ROCKAWAY - Shawn Concannon scored a three-goal hat trick and Bryan Brownlee got his first high school goal as Morris Hills won its second straight game by beating Millburn, 5-2, in a high school hockey game played at Aspen Ice in Randolph on Saturday, Jan. 23.
Concannon's hat trick gives him a team-leading 10 goals for season. He also got his fourth assist of the season and now leads Morris Hills (4-11-1) in total points with 14.
Brownlee finished with two assists for a three-point game. Austin Yanas scored the other goal for Morris Hills, his third of the season. Jennifer Zirkel finished with two assists and Brandon Gomez had one.
Concannon scored the only goal of the first period, a power-play goal assisted by Zirkel and Gomez with the game 5:41 old.
Concannon, Brownlee and Yanas gave the Knights a 4-2 lead going into the final period. Brownlee assisted on Concannon’s goal; Concannon then assisted on Brownlee’s second score, another power-play goal; and Zirkel got her second assist of the game on the goal by Yanas.
Concannon completed his hat trick in the first 35 second of the third period, again asissted by Brownlee.
Morris Hills goaltender Jeff Dirdack finished the game with 32 saves while his teammates put 28 shots on the goalie for Millburn (1-12-0).
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Concannon, Shattuck lead way in 4-0 win over East Side
ROCKAWAY - Shawn Concannon had a hand in all four goals and Andrew Shattuck got his first varsity shutout as Morris Hills defeated East Side, 4-0, in a high school hockey game played at the Prudential Center in Newark on Thursday, Jan. 21.
Concannon scored two goals and assisted on goals by Brian McKnight and Brian Salvesen as the Knights improved to 3-11-1 for the season. East Side slipped to 6-3-1 with the loss.
After a scoreless first period, Concannon connected on two goals in a 2:16 span of the second period to give Morris Hills a 2-0 lead.
Concannon scored his first goal with 5:26 left in the period with an assist by Justin Londono and then scored with 3:10 to go on assists by Bryan Brownlee and Jennifer Zirkel.
Concannon then assisted on a goal by Brian McKnight with 23 seconds left in the period for a 3-0 Hills lead. Brian Salvesen also got an assist on the McKnight’s goal.
Salvesen scored the only goal of the third period 1:23 in with Concannon putting the cap on his four-point game with his second assists.
Shattuck stopped all 17 shots he faced to record his shutout.
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Concannon scores Knights' only goal in 6-1 loss
ROCKAWAY - Shawn Concannon’s goal midway through the second period was the only score of the game for Morris Hills as the Knights lost a 6-1 decision to Whippany Park in a Morris County Scholastic Ice Hockey League game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Monday, Jan. 18.
Whippany Park (5-8-2) took a 3-0 lead after the first period of play and had scored earlier in the second period before Concannon scored his goal on an assist by Chris Wadleigh.
Whippany Park got that goal back with 3:30 to play in the second period and then scored the only goal of the final period to create the final score.
Morris Hills goalie Andrew Shattuck had a busy day in the nets as he finished with 39 saves.
Morris Hills (2-11-1) put 11 shots on the Park goal.
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Parsippany stops Knights, 9-0
ROCKAWAY - Jeff Dirdack and Andrew Shattuck combined for 31 saves for Morris Hills as the Knights lost a 9-0 decision to Parsippany in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League games played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Wednesday, Jan. 13.
Parsippany (6-6-0) broke a scoreless tie by scoring four goals in the final 3:47 of the first period and Morris Hills could not recover.
Morris Hills (2-10-1) put 21 shots on Parsippany goalie David Donnelly. Dirdack finished with 19 saves while Shattuck had 12.
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Freshman McKnight scores first varsity goal
ROCKAWAY - The Morris Hills hockey team couldn't stop Sean Yardley as Mount Olive scored the final eight goals of the game to beat the Knights, 10-1, in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Monday, Jan. 11.
Yardley scored five goals and had four assists as Mount Olive (8-2-1) extended a 2-1 first period lead by scoring three second-period goals and the added five third-period goals while shutting down Morris Hills (2-9-1) over the final two periods.
The Knights got their lone goal with 5:28 left in the first period when freshman Brian McKnight scored the first varsity goal of his high school career with an assist from Brian Brownlee.
Knight goalie Jeff Dirdack stopped 45 shots on goal while his Knights' teammates put 12 shots on the Mount Olive goalkeeper for the game.
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Knights show good defense in 4-1 loss to 7-0 Roxbury
ROCKAWAY - Shawn Concannon scored the only goal of the game for Morris Hills when the Knights lost a 4-1 decision to unbeaten Roxbury in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Saturday, Jan. 9.
Roxbury (11-0) took a two-goal lead after the first period and, after both teams scored in the second, scored the only goal of the third period to seal the victory.
Concannon scored his goal with an assist from Brian McKnight with 6:51 to play in the second period. Morris Hills (2-8-1) got a solid effort from Andrew Shattuck in goal as Shattuck finished the game with 45 saves. Morris Hills had eight shots on goal for the entire game.
"The score reflects a strong defensive effort by the whole team and by our goalie," said Morris Hills head coach Ed Higdon after the game. "Shattuck did a great job in goal, facing all those shots.�
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West Morris downs Knights, 11-1
ROCKAWAY - Shawn Concannon scored the only goal for Morris Hills as the Knights lost to West Morris, 11-1, in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League game played at the Chill Out Ice Arena in Hackettstown on Wednesday, Jan. 6.
Concannon scored off a pass from Garvey with 6:12 to go in the second period to cut the West Morris lead to 5-1, but West Morris (7-2) scored three times in the last five minutes of the period to take a commanding 8-1 lead into the final period of play.
Morris Hills (2-7-1) took nine shots on goal while Knight goalie John Dirdack finished the game with 31 saves.
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Morris Hills bows to Parsippany, 5-1; Yanas scores for MH
ROCKAWAY - Austin Yanas' goal with 3:45 to play was the only score for Morris Hills as the Knights lost to Parsippany, 5-1, in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Monday, Jan. 4.
After a scoreless first period, Parsippany (4-5) scored four goals within an eight-minute span in the second period to take a 4-0 lead. Parsippany made it 5-0 with a short-handed goal in the first three minutes of the third period before Morris Hills (2-6-1) scored its goal.
Brandon Gomez and Devin Long had assists on Yanas� goal.
Morris Hills faces West Morris on Wednesday, Jan. 6, in a 4 p.m. game at Mennen.
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Knights win Bayonne Tournament consolation, 3-2
ROCKAWAY - This time, Morris Hills held on to the lead once it got it as the Knights defeated Nottingham, 3-2, in the consolation game of the Bayonne Holiday Ice Hockey Tournament held at Korpi Arena in Bayonne on Tuesday, Dec. 29.
Only one day earlier, the Knights had taken a 2-0 lead over Woodbridge in a first-round game only to have Woodbridge score the last five goals of the game for a 5-2 victory.
On Tuesday, Woodbridge and the host Bayonne club squared off for the tournament championship and Bayonne prevailed, 1-0, scoring the only goal of the game two minutes into the final period.
In the earlier game, Morris Hills (2-5-1) took a 1-0 lead when Brian Salvesen scored midway through the first period on assists from Brian Bartel and Chris Wadleigh. Nottingham came right back and scored about a minute later to make it 1-1, but the Knights regained the lead for good at 2-1 when John Garvey scored with assists from Bryan Brownlee and Justin Londono with 4:48 to go in the first
period.
Morris Hills scored the only goal of the second period when Chris Wadleigh scored what proved to be the winning goal with assists from Bartel and Salvesen to give the Knight a 3-1 lead. Nottingham scored the only goal of the third period with 6:46 left to play.
Jeff Dirdack played a solid game in goal for Morris Hills by stopping 30 of the 32 shots on net he faced.
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Knights fail to hold two-goal lead in 5-2 loss to Woodbridge
ROCKAWAY - The Morris Hills High School hockey team scored the first two goals of the game, but Woodbridge came back with five unanswered goals to beat the Knights, 5-2, in a first-round game of the Bayonne Holiday Hockey Tournament played at Korpi Arena in Bayonne on Monday, Dec. 28.
John Garvey scored an unassisted goal in the first two minutes of play to give the Knights (1-5-1) a 1-0 lead and then Brandon Gomez made it 2-0 with a second-period goal with Shawn Concannon and Garvey getting the assists on the play.
Woodbridge (3-4) came back with three goals in the final 5:10 of the period - the third a power-play goal with 35 seconds on the clock - to take the lead for good. Woodbridge added the only two goals of the third period to create the final score.
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Knights bow to Madison, 9-0
ROCKAWAY - Morris Hills fell behind by four goals in the first eight minutes of play and never could recover in a 9-0 loss to Madison in a Morris County Scholastic Ice Hockey League game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Tuesday, Dec. 15.
Brett Perry scored three goals and had two assists; Spencer Waresk had two goals and two assists; and Lou Cecala assisted on the first four goals and then scored the final goal of the game to lead Madison (2-1-1).
Morris Hills is now 1-4-1.
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Knights blanked by Montville
ROCKAWAY - The Morris Hills High School ice hockey team was held to four shots on goal in a 10-0 loss to defending Haas Cup champion Montville in a Morris County Scholastic League game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Saturday, Dec. 12.
Montville (2-1-2) was led by Jessee Cannizzo's three goals and an assist and two goals each from John Sefcik and Ryan Brenner.
The loss put Morris Hills at 1-3-1 for the season.
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Concannon's goal not enough as MH falls, 3-1
ROCKAWAY - Shawn Concannon's third-period goal was the only score for Morris Hills High School's ice hockey team as the Knights lost to J.P. Stevens, 3-1, in a game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Wednesday, Dec. 9.
J.P. Stevens (1-3) scored a goal in each of the first two periods to take a 2-0 lead into the third period where Concannon scored an unassisted power-play goal in the first minute of the period to pull the Knights (1-2-1) to within a goal.
Less than two minutes later, however, J.P. Stevens regained its two-goal advantage when Mike Rossi scored his second goal of the game to conclude the scoring for the contest.
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Knights beat Morris Catholic, 4-3, for first win of season
It's only three games into the 2009-2010 season, but the Morris Hills High School hockey team has already matched its point total from last season by going 1-1-1 in its first three games.
Last year's young and inexperienced Knights struggled through a 1-14-1 season and this year's version opened this season with a 7-0 loss to Mount Olive, a team that won but two games last year.
But the Knights battled back to earn a tie against East Side in their second game and then notched their first victory of the season with a 4-3 win over Morris Catholic in a game placed at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Monday, Dec. 7.
Trailing 2-1 going into the final period, the Knights scored three times in a span of less than two minutes to build a two-goal lead and then held off a last-minutes flurry by Morris Catholic (0-3) that cut the lead to a single goal.
Justin Londono led the way for the Knights with two goals and an assist; Austin Yanas had a goal and an assist; Shawn Concannon finished with a goal; John Garvey had two assists; and Chris Wadliegh finished with one assist.
Yanas' power-play goal was the only Morris Hills goal in the first two periods as Morris Catholic built its 2-1 lead.
Londono's first goal - also on the power play - in the third period tied the game at 2-2 with 9:32 to play and then Concannon scored to give the Knights their first lead of the game at 3-2.
Londono's goal with 7:53 to play proved to be the game winner when Morris Catholic scored its final goal with 3:48 to go in the game.
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Knights rally to tie Newark East Side, 1-1
John Garvey's goal late in the third period gave Morris Hills a 1-1 tie with Newark East Side, 1-1, in a high school boys hockey games played at the AmeriHealth Pavilion in Newark on Friday, Dec. 4.
Morris Hills (0-1-1) fell behind in the first seven minutes of the game when Armando Romero scored for East Side, which was opening its season.
Morris Hills goalie Jeff Dirdack and the Knight defense kept East Side (0-1) off the board for the rest of the game. Dirdack finished with 21 saves.
The Knights, who put 23 shots on Newark goalie Antonio Tavares, finally broke through on Garvey's unassisted goal with 5:04 left to play in the game.
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Morris Hills drops season opener, 7-0
Morris Hills High School's hockey team saw too much of Mount Olive's Sean Yardley in the Knights opening-day 7-0 loss in Morris County Scholastic Hockey League game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Wednesday, Dec. 2.
Yardley had a hand in all seven Mount Olive goals as he scored six times and assisted on the seventh goal.
Morris Hills put five shots on Mount Olive goalie Dan Gillette.
