DENVILLE - The Morris Knolls High School hockey team's season ended sooner than expected on Thursday, March 4, when the Eagles were upset by Toms River South, 3-1, in an NJSIAA Ice Hockey Public A second-round game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township.
Top-seed Morris Knolls outshot No. 16 Toms River South, 32-15, but could get the puck past TRS goaltender Geoff Hannon only once. Morris Knolls goalie Tim Kuznetsov stopped 13 of the 15 shots he faced.
The first period looked as if it was going to finish 0-0 until Jay Malone of TRS scored with five seconds left in the period. It was the first of three goals for Malone.
Morris Knolls tied the score when Nick Farina scored the only goal of the second period on the power play with 12:57 left in the 15-minute session. Brian Manning got the assist on the goal.
TRS took a 2-1 lead on Malone's second goal early in the third period.
There was no other scoring until late in the game when, with Kuznetsov off the ice for an extra skater, Malone completed his three-goal hat trick by scoring into an empty net with two seconds left on the clock.
Toms River South (22-2-2) moves on to meet No. 8 Morristown in a semifinal game that has been scheduled for Saturday, March 6, at Codey Arena at 6 p.m. Morristown beat No. 9 Westfield, 3-2, in their quarterfinal-round game on Thursday.
Morris Knolls finishes its season with a 17-3-4 record.
---
Eagles win state tournament opener, 8-0
DENVILLE - Nick Farina scored twice; six other Eagles scored single goals; and goaltenderTim Kuznetsov posted a shutout as Morris Knolls defeated Wayne Valley, 8-0, in a Public A first-round hockey game at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Tuesday, March 2.
Knolls (17-2-4) is top-seeded in the 33-team tournament while Wayne Valley (10-12-1) was the 33rd seed and had to beat Old Bridge in a play-in game to fill out the 32-team bracket.
Brian Manning scored the only goal of the first period and, as it turned out, it was the only goal Kuznetsov would need as he stopped all 15 shots he saw to post his third shutout of the season.
Farina scored the first of his two goals to open the second period and then Nick Lieback and Thomas Larkin added goals to make it a 4-0 game. Larkin's goal came with six seconds left in the period.
The Eagles scored four times in the final period with Jack Monahan, Farina and Albert Abaunza getting goals with a two-and-a-half minute time span midway through the 15-minute session and Nicholas Spadone adding the final goal in the game's last minute of play.
Dillon Garrity and Manning finished with three assists; Abaunza and Lieback each had two; and Farina finished with one.
Next up for the Eagles is a second-round game against No. 16 Toms River South, which beat No. 17 Roxbury, 4-1, in their first-round game. The Knolls-TRS game has been scheduled for Thursday, March 4, at Mennen at 4 p.m.
The winner of Knolls-TRS then goes on to face the winner of No. 8 Morristown vs. No. 9 Westfield in a quarterfinal game on Saturday, March 6, at Codey Arena at 6 p.m. Morristown beat No. 25 Clifton, 4-2, and Westfield edged No. 24 Hackensack, 4-3, in their respective first-round games.
---
Knolls loses Mennen Cup finalin 3-2 OT thriller
DENVILLE - You’re going to have to excuse the Morris Knolls hockey fans at Mennen Arena Sunday (Feb. 28) night if they left the rink with the feeling that they had seen the same game twice on the same day.
Especially if they had watched the Canada 3, USA 2 overtime thriller in the Olympic gold medal game that afternoon before heading out to Mennen to watch the Morristown-Beard 3, Morris Knolls 2 overtime thriller in the Mennen Cup championship game.
Twice Knolls fans has seen their team trailing 2-1 with time running out ... twice they had seen a goal with seconds left in regulation by their team send the game into overtime ... and twice they had seen their team lose by the slimmest of margins.
With Knolls trailing 2-1 and goalie Tim Kuznetsov off for an extra skater, Dillon Garrity's goal with 13 seconds to go in the third period pulled Morris Knolls into a 2-2 tie with Morristown-Beard.
With USA trailing 2-1 and goalie Ryan Miller off for an extra skater, Zach Parise’s goal with 24.4 seconds to go in the third period pulled USA into a 2-2 tie with Canada.
With 2:18 gone in the overtime, Mo-Beard’s leading scorer Dan DePoalo scored, giving Mo-Beard a 3-2 victory and the Mennen Cup.
With 7:40 gone in the overtime, Canada’s poster boy Sidney Crosby scored, giving Canada a 3-2 victory and the Olympic gold.
Twice, Knolls fans had to watch the “other team” celebrate a victory that players on both side will remember forever.
The Olympian skaters left Vancouver to return to their NHL clubs to resume league play that features a 12-game slate for Tuesday, March 2.
The high school skaters left Mennen to start a quest for a state title in the NJSIAA’s post-season playoffs.
Morris Knolls (16-2-4) is the top-seeded team in the 33-team Public A tournament and plays the winner of the Wayne Valley-Old Bridge game that is being held on Monday, March 1, with the winner completing the 32-team bracket.
The Eagles are scheduled to face either Wayne Valley or Old Bridge on Tuesday, March 2, in a 3:45 p.m. game at Mennen.
Against Mo-Beard in the Cup finale, Tom DePoalo opened the scoring 45 seconds into the game and Knolls freshman Jack Monahan tied it on a goal assisted by Dillon Garrity with 1:13 left in the first period.
Mo-Beard scored the only goal of the second period and the score stayed 2-1 in favor of Mo-Beard until Garrity scored with 13 seconds left in regulation, converting passes from Nick Lieback and Keith Lydon.
The game went into overtime and ... well, you know the rest because the same thing had just happened a few hours earlier on TV.
Notes: Kuznetsov finished the game with 24 saves while Mo-Beard goalie Alex Curso stopped 23 shots on net ... both teams had but one shot on goal in the overtime session ... the MB-MK Cup finale was the third time the two teams had met this year with Knolls winning the first game, 4-2, two days before Christmas and Mo-Beard handing Morris Knolls its first loss, a 4-3 decision on Saturday, Jan. 16 ... when both teams finished the regular season with 21 points, the Mennen Division title went to Mo-Beard because of its better record against Kinnelon, the third place team ... Mo-Beard beat Kinnelon twice while Knolls was 1-0-1 against the Colts this season.
---
Manning (2), Garrity (2) and Lieback score 5-3 Cup semi win
DENVILLE - Morris Knolls came from behind twice and, with Brian Manning and Dillon Garrity each scoring two goals, defeated Kinnelon, 5-3, in one of the semifinals game of the Mennen Cup played on Saturday, Feb. 27, at Mennen Arena in Morris Township.
The Eagles will meet defending Cup champ Morristown-Beard in the championship game on Sunday, Feb. 28, in a 5:30 p.m. game at Mennen. Morris Knolls and Mo-Beard split their two regular-season games, Morris Knolls (16-1-4) winning the first one, 4-2, and Mo-Beard winning the second one, 4-3, handing the Eagles their only loss to date.
Manning and Garrity gave Knolls a 2-1 lead after one period with Garrity’s goal an unassisted goal coming with just 13 seconds to play in the period. Billy Kostecki and Nicholas Lieback assisted on Manning’s goal.
Kinnelon got the first two goals of the second period to take a 3-2 lead, but Manning scored his second goal with 5:12 left to tie it and Nicholas Lieback scored an unassisted goal just 22 seconds later to give the Eagles their first lead of the game. Zachary Simmons assisted on Manning's second goal.
Garrity's second goal of the game - a short-handed goal with 3:11 left in the game - sealed the win for Morris Knolls.
Eagle goalie Tim Kuznetsov stopped 31 of the 34 shots he faced - including 11 in keeping Kinnelon scoreless in the final period - for his first playoff victory.
Notes: Knolls beat Kinnelon 7-3 in the season opener and the two teams tied 5-5 in the second regular-season meeting ... the tie cost the Eagles a share of the Mennen Division regular-season title when both Morristown-Beard and Morris Knolls finished with 21 points ... with Knolls and Mo-Beard splitting their two games, the second tie-break was how the teams fared against the third-place team - Kinnelon ... Mo-Beard was 2-0 against Kinnelon and Knolls was 1-0-1, thus giving the title to Mo-Beard. ...
---
Abaunza, Garrity, Kuznetsov stop Ramsey, 2-0
DENVILLE - Albert Abaunza scored early and Dillon Garrity scored late and TIm Kuznetsov stopped everything he saw as Morris Knolls defeated Ramsey, 2-0, in a high school hockey game played at the Ice Vault in Wayne on Sunday, Feb. 21.
Abaunza scored a power-play goal with assists from Garrity and Brian Manning in the first period and that goal held up the rest of the way. Garrity scored unassisted into an empty net in the game’s final eight seconds.
The goal was Abaunza's team-leading 18th of the season and, along with his 16 assists, gives him a team-high 33 points for the season. Garrity has nine goals and a team-high 19 assists for 28 points, second on the team behind Abaunza.
Kuznetsov finished with 23 saves for his second shutout of the season.
The win sent Morris Knolls record to 16-4-1 while Ramsey slipped to 16-4-2.
The Eagles face Kinnelon in a first-round Mennen Cup game at 6:15 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 25, at Mennen Arena in Morris Township.
---
Eagles 2nd in Mennen Division after tie vs. Randolph
DENVILLE - Their captain said it best, calling the game "... a wake-up call for the postseason" and saying the team's goals remained the same "... and we’ll just have to take a different road to get there."
The Morris Knolls High School hockey team needed a win over Randolph on Saturday, Feb. 13, at Mennen Arena in Morris Township in order to clinch the Mennen Division regular-season title in the Morris County Scholastic Hockey League.
The Eagles didn’t get it, having to settle for a 2-2 tie and one point instead of the anticipated win and two points that would have given Knolls the regular-season title and No. 1 seed in the upcoming Mennen Cup post-season playoffs.
The loss of that one point means Morris Knolls (14-1-4 overall and 9-1-3 for 21 points in the league) and Morristown-Beard (10-2-1 for 21 points) finished in a tie in the Mennen Division.
The teams split their head-to-head regular-season games, Knolls winning 4-2 and Mo-Beard winning 4-3, but Mo-Beard had the better record (2-0-0) against third-place Kinnelon (2-0) than Knolls (1-0-1) and that enabled Mo-Beard to be declared division champion.
Morris Knolls will enter the Mennen Cup as the second seed and face third-place Kinnelon on Thursday, Feb. 25, in a 6:45 p.m. game at Mennen. Mo-Beard’s first Mennen Cup game is scheduled for the next day at Mennen against either Randolph or Chatham depending on which one of the two teams finishes in fourth place.
While the Mennen Division regular-season title would have been nice, the Eagles’ main goals are still the same - the Mennen Cup and the state playoffs.
"We're just going to have to take a different road to get there," Knolls senior captain Albert Abaunza was quoted as saying after the game. "We beat Randolph earlier in the season and got overconfident and lazy this time ... maybe this is just the thing we need to get us going in the post-season."
In Saturday's game against Randolph, the teams played a scoreless first period before Randolph took a lead at 1-0 on a goal by Ryan Panetta with 12:05 left in the second period.
Knolls tied the score when Billy Nichols scored on an assist from Dillon Baruti less than two minutes later.
The Eagles took the lead when Abaunza took a pass from Nicholas Lieback deep in his own end and skated down the right side and scored from close in with 2:18 left in the period.
Randolph got the only goal of the third period when Nick Kovary scored on a power play with 11:35 left in the game.
The defenses and goalie took over after that and there was no scoring for the rest of the game, marking only the second time this season that Morris Knolls has failed to scored a goal in the third period.
Morris Knolls goalie Tim Kuznetsov stopped 31 of the 33 shots he faced while his teammates put 20 shots on Randolph goalie Michael Pollio.
-
(For pictures of this game, please visit the 'MK-Ran Hockey' page under the 'Winter Photo Pages' button)
---
Knolls tops Pope John as Abaunza scores two goals
DENVILLE - Albert Abaunza scored two goals and had an assist; Nick Lieback had a goal and an assist; and Zach Simmons finished with three assists as Morris Knolls defeated Pope John, 6-1, in a high school hockey game played at Aspen Ice in Randolph on Saturday, Feb. 6.
Abaunza scored the only goals of the first period when Morris Knolls (14-1-3) took a lead it never lost. Simmons got his first assist on Abaunza’s first goal and Thomas Larkin and Nick Lieback assisted on the second.
The Eagles also got single goals from Monahan, Brian Manning and Connor Manning while Billy Kostecki also had an assist for Knolls.
---
Monahan late goal defeats Pingry, 4-3
DENVILLE - It took a freshman to remind friends and foes alike exactly who owns the third period in high school hockey around here.
Morris Knolls was in danger of being held to its third tie in its last five games when freshman Jack Monahan broke a 3-3 deadlock with his 10th goal of the season with 47 seconds left in the game to give the Eagles a 4-3 victory over Pingry on Monday, Feb. 1.
The win was the third straight for Morris Knolls (13-1-3) and the first loss of the season for Pingry (13-1-1), which was on its home ice in the Bridgewater Sports Arena, where Morris Knolls has not won in four years.
Morris Knolls took a 3-1 lead into the third period but Pingry got two goals within a three-minute span to tie the game at 3-3 with 5:54 to play.
Nick Lieback started the game-winning play by stealing the puck in his own end and moving into the Pingry zone. He got past one defender before dropping a pass to a trailing Monahan, who wasted no time in wristing the puck into the upper left-hand corner of the net for the winning score.
Morris Knolls has scored 46 of its 95 goals in the final 15 minutes of play while allowing the opposition only nine. Pingry’s 2-1 edge in the third period marked only the third time in 17 games the Eagles have been outscored in the final period.
Earlier in the game, Knolls leading goal scorer Albert Abaunza notched his 13th and 14th goals of the season in the final two minutes of the first period to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead. Billy Kostecki and Liebeck assisted on Abaunza first goal and Nick Spadone assisted on the second.
Billy Nichols’ unassisted goal early in the second period was the only score of the middle period as Knolls took a 3-1 lead into the final 15 minutes of play.
Pingry pulled to within a goal with 9:04 left in the game and then scored again with 5:54 left to tie the score at 3-3.
MK goalie Tim Kutnetsov and the Eagles’ defense shut down Pingry the rest of the way and the Lieback to Monahan goal as time was running out made a winner out of Morris Knolls.
Kutnetsov finished the game with 31 saves while the Eagles put 25 shots on Pingry goalie Peter Martin.
Notes: Abaunza (14-13-27) and Dillon Garrity (8-19-27) are the leading scorers for the Eagles ... Lieback (9-12-21), Nick Farina (12-8-20) and Brian Manning (9-11-20) have reached the 20-point mark ... Monahan’s goal gives him a point-a-game 10-7-17 stat line ... the Eagles are in first place in the Mennen Division of the Morris County Scholastic Hockey League with a 9-1-2 record for 20 points ... Morristown-Beard (8-2-1) is second with 17 points and Kinnelon (7-2-1) is third with 15 points and has two games on Knolls and one on Mo-Beard ... Knolls has scored 95 goals and given up 40 (only nine in the last period) in its first 17 games. ...
---
Early goals send Eagles past Randolph, 4-2
DENVILLE - Brian Manning, Nicholas Lieback and Dillon Garrity scored goals in the last five minutes of the first period to give Morris Knolls an early lead and the Eagle defense and goalie Tim Kuznetsov made it stand up for a 4-2 victory over Randolph in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League game played at Mennen Arena on Thursday, Jan. 27.
Manning scored the game's first goal on an assist from Dillon Garrity with 5:04 left in the first period. Less than a minute later, Lieback scored off a pass from Albert Abaunza and, with two minutes left in the first period, Garrity scored on an assist from Keith Lyden and the Eagles (12-1-3) had a 3-0 lead.
Randolph (8-5) made it 3-1 when the Rams scored with one second left to play in the first period. Randolph then cut the lead to 3-2 with the only goal of the second period.
Nick Farina scored his 12th goal of the season on an assists from Garrity and Lyden to close out the scoring for the game. Farina and Abaunza each have 12 goals now to share the team lead.
Garrity (8-19 - 27) is the point leader over Abaunza (12-12 - 24) with Farina (12-8 - 20) and Brian Manning (9-11 - 20) each getting their 20th point of the season against Randolph.
---
Eagles 4-goal third beats Morristown, 5-1
DENVILLE - Morris Knolls rallied for five unanswered goals to beat Morristown, 5-1, in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Monday, Jan. 25.
Morristown (9-6) scored the only goal of the first period and Morris Knolls (11-1-3) tied the score when Jack Monahan scored on assists from Nick Farina and Dillon Garrity for the only goal of the second period.
The Eagles, who have now outscored their opponents 44-7 in the third period this season, scored four times in the final 15 minutes of play to seal their victory.
Nicholas Lieback scored what proved to be the game-winner on a short-handed goal 4:33 into the final period.
Brian Manning and Albert Abaunza scored within 13 seconds of each other with Manning scoring an unassisted goal with 6:14 to play and Abaunza converting a pass from Lieback with 6:01 to play.
Connor Manning scored the final goal of the game - a power-play goal with 1:17 left to play - on assists from Dillon Baruti and Billy Nichols.
Morris Knolls goalie Tim Kuznetsov stopped 10 of the 11 shots he faced during the game.
Notes: The victory was the first in four games for the Eagles as they suffered their first loss and then skated to two ties in their previous three ... Knolls leads the Mennen Division with an 8-1-2 record good for 18 points with Morristown-Beard second with a 6-1-1 mark good for 13 points and having played three less league games than the Eagles ... Knolls showed its balance against Morristown as five different players scored goals and, of the 10 points, nine player had one with Lieback the only one having two on his goal and assist ... Knolls has outscored its opponents 87-35 in 15 games. ...
---
Farina's two-goal third period helps Eagle gain tie
DENVILLE - Nick Farina's second goal of the third period - a power-play score with 1:22 left to play - capped a three-goal third-period rally that brought Morris Knolls back from a 5-2 deficit into a 5-5 tie with Kinnelon in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League game played at Skylands Ice World in Stockholm on Saturday, Jan. 23.
Morris Knolls is now 0-1-2 in its last three games and is 10-1-3 overall. Kinnelon on a 5-1-1 run in its last seven games, is 9-6-1 for the season.
Connor Manning scored an unassisted goal in the first period when Kinnelon bolted out to a 3-1 lead. Kinnelon scored two more goals in the second period to take a 5-1 lead before Nicholas Lieback scored on a power-play goal with assists from Albert Abaunza and Brian Manning to make it a 5-2 game going into the third period.
Jack Monahan scored 3:19 into the third period on assists by Connor Manning and Nicholas Spadone to cut the Kinnelon lead to 5-3 and then Farina scored on assists from Dillon Garrity and Brian Manning with 5:40 to go to bring the Eagles to within one goal.
Farina then notched the equalizer - an unassisted power-play goal - in the game's final two minutes to salvage the for the Eagles.
Garrity and Abaunza continue to run 1-2 in the team scoring race with Garrity holding a slim one-point lead with 23 points on 7 goals and 16 assists. Abaunza has 22 points on 11 goals and 11 assists.
Farina (11-7-18), Brian Manning (7-11-18), Lieback (7-9-16), Connor Manning (7-8-15) and Monahan (8-7-15) are also averaging better than a point a game for the Eagles.
---
Knolls held to 6-6 deadlock by Jefferson's late goal
DENVILLE - For the first part of the third period of Tuesday (Jan. 19) night�s game against Jefferson, it seemed as if Morris Knolls was once again going to crush its opponent in the final 15 minutes of a hockey game.
After all, the Eagles had not only taken a 35-6 third-period season edge into the final period of play at Mennen Arena in Morris Township but had scored twice in the first 6:36 to take a 6-5 lead.
Jefferson, however, ended the Eagles third-period magic (at least for a game) when it scored the equalizer with 7:19 to play in the game. After that score, the defenses and goalies took over and the Morris County Scholastic Hockey League game ended in a 6-6 tie.
Another trend Morris Knolls continued during the game was spreading around the scoring as six different Eagles notched the team�s six goals.
Brian Manning and Nicholas Hussey scored the third-period goals for Knolls, Manning scoring five minutes into the period on an assist by Zachary Simmons to tied the score at 5-5 and Husey scoring on asissts by Jack Monahan and Simmons with 8:24 to play to put the Eagles ahead by a goal.
But Jimmy Stokes of Jefferson (7-5-1) scored the game�s final goal a few seconds after the midway point of the final period and Morris Knolls (10-1-2) had to settle for its second tie of the season.
Jefferson scored just 29 seconds into the game to take a 1-0 lead but Albert Abauanza scored an unassisted short-handed goal and Monahan scored a power-play goal with an assist from Connor Manning to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead that lasted until Stokes scored his first of two goals in the game with 44 second left in the first period.
In the second period, Jefferson outscored Knolls 3-2 to take a 5-4 lead into the final peroid of play.
The Knolls' second-period goals came when Nicholas Lieback scored on a power play on assists from Abaunza and Dillon Garrity and when Garrity scored on assists by Billy Kostecki and Brian Manning.
That took the game into the third period where the Eagles scored the first two goals to retake the lead only to have Jefferson the final goal that created the 6-6 deadlock.
---
DENVILLE - The third-period magic wasn�t there this time and the Morris Knolls ice hockey team lost for the first time this season, falling to Morristown-Beard, 4-3, in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League (MCSHL) game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Saturday, Jan. 16.
The Eagles are now 10-1-1 overall and lead the Mennen Division standings with a 7-1-0 record and 14 points. Morristown-Beard (7-3-2) is in second place with a 6-1-1 division record and 13 points, one behind Knolls.
Mo-Beard took a 1-0 lead with nine seconds to play in the first period and then scored twice in the first four minutes of the second period for a 3-0 advantage.
Billy Kostecki got Knolls on the board with the first of his two goals, converting a pass from Billy Kostecki midway through the second period.
But Mo-Beard struck with only 1:49 gone in the third period to take a 4-1 lead.
Kostecki got his second goal of the game and fourth of the season less than two minutes later on assists from Connor Manning and Nichols.
Knolls pulled to within a goal of the lead with 5:50 to go when defenseman Dillon Baruti scored his first goal of the season, taking a pass from Albert Abaunza and beating the Mo-Beard goalie.
But Knolls, which has outscored its opponents, 35-6, in the third period and 71-23 overall this season, could not score again and the Eagles were pinned with their first loss of the season.
Knolls goalie Tim Kutnetsov finished the game with 25 saves while his teammates put 24 shots in all on the Morristown-Beard nets.
Notes: Knolls and Mo-Beard last met on Wednesday, Dec. 23, with Knolls winning, 4-2 ... of Kostecki's four goals this season, three have come against Mo-Beard ... the Eagles have seven players with 10 or more points with two more a point away from double figures ... Dillon Garrity has the most points with 20 on six goals and a team-leading 14 assists; Abaunza has the most goals with 10 and second most points with 19 on 10-9-19 scoring ... Nick Farina (9-7-16), Nicholas Lieback (5-9-14), Brian Manning (6-8-14), Connor Manning (6-6-12), Jack Monahan (6-6-12) have also reaching the double-figure mark in points. ...
---
Nichols goal with 7:05 left beats Chatham, 3-2
DENVILLE - Sophomore Billy Nichols� third goal of the season with 7:05 left in the game gave Morris Knolls a 3-2 victory over Chatham in a Morris County Scholastic Ice Hockey League (MCSIHL) game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Thursday, Jan. 14.
Nichols controlled a rebound off a shot by Connor Manning and stuck it past Chatham goaltender Charlie Boles for the Eagles 10th victory of the season against but one tie.
The victory gives the Eagles a 7-0 record and 14 points in the Mennen Division of the MCSIHL and increases their first-place margin over Morristown-Beard (5-1-1) to three points.
After a scoreless first period, Tom Larkin�s sixth goal of the season 5:48 into the second period gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Chatham (5-6-1, 1-4-1) tied the game less than a minute later and then took the lead with another goal with 1:46 left in the second period.
Brian Mannng�s sixth goal of the season, a shorthanded goal with the third period less than two minutes old, tied the score at 2-2 before Nichols converted on Connor Manning�s rebounded shot from the point for the game winning goal.
Chatham outshot Morris Knolls and Eagle goalie Tim Kuznetsov finished the game with 25 saves compared to 19 for Boles.
Dillon Garrity, Connor Manning and Zach Simmons each picked up asissts for the Eagles.
Notes: Garrity leds the Eagles balanced scoring parade with 20 points on six goals and 14 assists ... Abaunza (10-8-18), Nick Farina (9-7-16), Brian Manning (6-8-14), Jack Monahan (6-6-12) and Connor Manning (6-5-11) have also reached double-figures in points ... Knolls has outscored its opponents 68-19 in its first 11 games ... Knolls is particularly stingy in the first period as the Eagles have given up only three goals in the first 15 minutes of play. ... The Eagles still enjoy a huge 33-5 third-period edge in goals ... they have scored 14 goals in the first and 21 in the second periods.
---
Knolls notches No. 9 with 4-1 win over Mendham
DENVILLE - Brian Manning, Thomas Larkin and Albert Abaunza each scored a goal and an assist and Dillon Garrity also had a two-point night with two asissts as Morris Knolls defeated Mendham, 4-1, in a Morris County Scholastic Ice Hockey League (MCSIHL) game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Saturday, Jan. 9.
Manning gave Knolls (9-0-1) a 1-0 first period lead when he scored a power-play goal on assists from Abaunza and Thomas Larkin.
The Eagles made it 2-0 on another power-play goal 32 seconds into the second period when Larkin scored on assists from Nick Farina and Garrity.
Mendham (1-11-0) got on the board with 2:52 left in the second period but Abaunza restored Knolls� two-goal advantage when he scored on assists from Garrity and Manning with 1:16 left in the period.
Zach Simmons got the only goal of the third period when he scored yet another power-play goal on assists from Jack Monahan and Billy Nichols with 2:36 to play in the game.
---
Kuznetsov shuts down Pequannock, 9-0
DENVILLE - Brian Manning and Nick Farina each scored two goals and goalie Tim Kuznetsov stopped all 10 shots he faced as Morris Knolls defeated Pequannock, 9-0, in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Tuesday, Jan. 5.
Seven different Eagles scored goals as Manning, Albert Abaunza and Farina scored in the first period to give the Eagles (8-0-1) a 3-0 lead and Pequannock (5-5) never did get back into the game.
Second-period goals by Billy Kostecki, Manning and Farina put Knolls up 6-0 going into the final period where Nicholas Lieback, Thomas Larkin and Nicholas Hussey each scored a goal to create the final score.
Knolls leading scorer Dillon Garrity had two assists in the game and now has 17 points on six goals and 11 assists through the Eagles first nine games.
Farina also had two assists for a four-point night and now has nine goals and six assists for 15 points, one point behind Abaunza, who has nine goals and seven assists for his 16 points.
Lieback (5-9-14) also had two assists for the game while Larkin (4-2-6), Manning (4-7-11) and Kostecki (2-3-5) each finished with one assist.
---
Ridge holds Eagles to 1-1 deadlock
DENVILLE - The Morris Knolls high school ice hockey team suffered its first blip on its unbeaten record when the Eagles were held to a 1-1 tie by Ridge in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League game at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Saturday, Jan. 2.
The Eagles are now 7-0-1 for the 2009-10 season, having outscored their eight opponents 52-16 since the start of the 2009-2010 season. Ridge improved to 2-6-2 with the deadlock.
Jack Monahan scored his sixth goal of the season with 33 seconds left in the first period to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Zach Simmons had the assist on the goal.
After a scoreless second period, Ridge connected on its tying goal when Jake Hotz scored with 6:33 left in the game.
---
Knolls out-shot but still wins, 4-2
DENVILLE - For the first time all season, the unbeaten Morris Knolls hockey team faced more pressure than it applied ... but for the seventh time this season, the Morris Knolls hockey team won the game.
Outshot, 30-17, the Eagles improved their 2009-2010 season record to 7-0 with a 4-2 victory over Morristown-Beard in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Wednesday, Dec. 23.
Billy Kostecki's first goal of the season in the first two minutes of the game gave the Eagles a 1-0 first-period lead.
Jack Monahan scored unassisted for his fifth goal of the season midway through the second period and Albert Abaunza added his eighth with one second left in the same period to send Knolls into the final 15 minutes of play with a 3-0 lead.
Mo-Beard got on the board with a power-play goal with 11:14 to go but Nick Farina restored the three-goal lead with his seventh goal of the season, an empty-netter with 1:19 left to play.
Mo-Beard got their second goal in the final 23 seconds.
Brian Manning picked up assists on the goals scored by Kostecki and Abaunza and Abaunza assisted on Farina's goal.
Tim Kuznetsov was solid in the nets for the Eagles in finishing the game with 28 saves.
---
Knolls' 2-goal 3rd beats Mtn. Lakes, 3-2
DENVILLE - This time it was different ... except for the result.
Unbeaten Morris Knolls needed every bit of its third-period scoring magic, getting two goals in the final 8:49 of play to pull out a 3-2 victory over Mountain Lakes in a high school ice hockey game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Monday, Dec. 21.
The Eagles, who have outscored their opponents 47-13 in racing out to a 6-0 record thus far in the 2009-2010 winter season, found themselves trailing 2-1 going into the final period of play against the Lakers (1-4).
Jack Monahan's fourth goal of the season with 8:49 left to play tied the score for the Eagles and Nick Farina scored his sixth goal of the season with 7:24 to play to give the Eagles their one-goal victory, their closest call in six games.
Knolls has now outscored its opposition 26-2 in the third period.
Mountain Lakes took a 1-0 lead when Jake Lessick scored an unassisted goal just 3:11 into the game.
The Eagles' Billy Nichols tied the game at 1-1 with 5:24 to go in the first period as he scored his second goal of the season with Connor Manning and Jack Monahan getting the assists.
The Lakers took a 2-1 lead when Lessick scored the only goal of the second period with assists from Jeff Celniker and Alec Fernandez.
Meanwhile, Mountain Lakes goaltender Geoff Avery was stopping everything Morris Knolls threw his way, including 10 shots the Eagles put on net in the first six minutes of the third period.
But Monahan, with assists from Dillon Baruti and Connor Manning, finally broke through with the tying goal and, less than two minutes later, Farina notched the game-winner with asissts from Albert Abaunza and Zachary Simmons.
Knolls goalie Tim Kutnetsov had a solid game in the nets for the Eagles, stopping all but two of the 26 shots he faced. Avery finished with 43 saves - 18 of them in the third period.
---
Knolls wins Cron tourney with 11-3 win over Johnson
DENVILLE - This one was settled early ... no need for any third-period heroics here, thank you.
The top-seeded and unbeaten Morris Knolls High School ice hockey team captured the Cron Tournament title by beating defending champion and No. 2 seed Johnson, 11-3, in a game played at Warinanco Rink in Roselle on Wednesday, Dec. 16.
The victory - the Eagles' fifth in as many games on the 2009-2010 season - was a reversal of last year's championship game when Johnson took the title with a 5-3 win over Morris Knolls.
The game also marked a stark difference in the timing of the Eagles goals as 21 of the 33 goals scored by Knolls in the first four games came in the final period when they outscored the opposition 21-1.
Knolls jumped out to a 1-0 lead when tourney MVP Dillon Garrity scored with an assist from Brian Manning before the game was three minutes old. Manning scored on a pass from Garrity with 1:50 left in the period and then Albert Abaunza beat the first-period buzzer when he scored on assists from Dillon Baruti and Nick Farina with one second left on the first-period clock.
Knolls increased its lead to 8-2 with a five-goal second-period as Garrity, Brian Manning and Abaunza each scored their second goals of the game and Nicholas Hussey and Connor Manning each scored twice.
Zachary Simmons, Nicholas Spadone and Farina added scored third-period goals with Simmons and Spadone notching their first goals of the season.
Garrity finished with four assists and now has a team-leading point total of 15 on six goals and nine assists.
Brian Manning, Baruti, Farina and Abaunza each had two assists while Keith Lyden, James Toolen and Andrew Campbell each had one.
Tim Kuznetsov, who allowed by four goals in the two tournament games, finished the game with 18 saves.
---
Knolls tops Westfield, 11-1, in Cron opener
DENVILLE - Albert Abaunza, Jack Monahan and Connor Manning each scored two goals and 10 players had either a goal or an assist as the unbeaten Morris Knolls High School ice hockey team defeated Westfield, 11-1, in a Cron Tournament game at Warinanco Rink in Roselle on Monday, Dec. 14.
The 4-0 Eagles have outscored their opponents 33-8 in their first four games and hold a 21-1 goals-against advantage in the third period, scoring five times in the final period against Westfield (3-1).
Westfield got its only goal six minutes into the game but Knolls tied it when Dillon Garrity scored in the final 1:53 of the first period.
Abaunza scored both his goals in the first six minutes of the second period - the first a short-handed goal - to make it 3-1. Nicholas Hussey, Monahan and Nicholas Lieback followed with goals as the Eagle took a 6-1 lead into the final period.
Monahan scored his second goal of the game less than two minutes into the period; Manning scored his first goal just seven seconds later; Zachary Simmons scored his first goal of the season to make it 9-1; Manning added his second goal; and Robert Casey finished the game�s scoring with his first goal of the season.
Lieback finished had three assists in the game and is the team leader in points with four goals, seven assists and 11 points. Billy Nichols and Keith Lyden each had two assists; and Billy Kostecki, James Toolen, Connor Manning and Garrity each added one assist.
NOTES: Abaunza and Connor Manning have each scored five goals to share the team lead ... Nick Farina, Garrity and Lieback each have three goals ... Lieback leads the team in assists with seven ... Garrity and Lyden each have five ... in the first four games, 17 Eagles have scored at least one point. ...
---
Eagles' three-goal 3rd beats Chatham, 6-3
DENVILLE - Maybe their depth has a lot to do with it ... maybe it's their conditioning ... maybe it just takes them longer to get loose!
Whatever it is, Morris Knolls High School hockey coach Walt Keiper's Eagles have opened their 2009-2010 season at 3-0 by completely dominating the third period of each of their first three games.
After Knolls made it three in a row Friday (Dec. 11) night by scoring three times in the third period to beat Chatham, 6-3, in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League Mennen Division game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township, the Eagles have outscored their opponents 16-1 in the third period in three games.
Knolls scored three unanswered goals in the third period to break a 3-3 tie in their most recent game. On Monday, Dec. 7, the Eagles scored seven times in the third period in a 9-1 victory over Parsippany. And Knolls won its opener by scoring six times in the final period for a 7-3 come-from-behind victory over Kinnelon.
That's 22 goals in three games - with 16 of them coming in the third period.
In the win over Chatham (2-1-1), Nicholas Lieback's goal off a rebound of a shot by Albert Abaunza four minutes into the final period broke a 3-3 tie and proved to be the winning goal for the Eagles. Nick Farina scored his team-leading fourth goal four minutes later and Lieback scored his second goal of the game with 5:05 to go to create the final score.
Dillon Garrity gave Knolls a 1-0 first-period lead before Chatham tied it up with 2:28 left in the period. In the second period, Jack Monahan and Connor Manning each scored for Knolls to match Chatham's two pair of goals before the Eagles took over with their "third-period magic" once again.
Liebeck also scored two assists against Chatham and is the Eagles' co-leader in points with Garrity, each having scored three goals and four assists in Knolls first three games. Garrity, Keith Lyden, Nick Spadone and Zachary Simmons also had assists for Knolls against Chatham.
Playing another strong game in goal for the Eagles was Tim Kutnetsov, who finished with 18 saves.
KNOLLS NOTES: After only three games, nine different Eagles have scored goals and 15 players have scored at least one point ... Ten different Eagles scored the team's first 10 points of the season ... Abaunza, Garrity, Larkin, Lieback and Connor Manning each have three goals, one behind team-leader Farina. ...
---
Knolls' 7-goal third period stops Parsippany, 9-1
The Morris Knolls High Scool ice hockey team is off to a quick 2-0 start for the 2009-2010 season, but the Eagles sure took their time getting to each win.
For the second straight game, Morris Knolls used a huge third period to cement their victory, this time scoring seven goals in the final period of a 9-1 victory over Parsippany in a game played at Warinanco Rink in Rosell on Monday, Dec. 7.
Dillon Garrity had two goals and two assists and Thomas Larkin scored two goals and added an assist to lead Knolls. Nick Farina, Connor Manning, Albert Abaunza, Nicholas Hussey and Billy Nichols each finished with one goa.
Jack Monahan had three assists; Brian Manning and Farina each had two; and Zachary Simmons, Dillon Baruti, Billy Kostecki, Keith Lyden and Connor Manning each had one.
Farina got the only goal of the first period, a short-handed goal with Monahan getting the first of his three assists.
Parsippany tied the score early in the second period before Garrity scored the first of his two goals to give Knolls a 2-1 lead, a lead that the Eagles never lost.
Connor Manning got the third-period started with his goal and Larkin followed with the first of his two goals to give Knolls a 4-1 lead. Abaunza and Hussey scored with a minute?s span to make it 6-1 and Larkin, Garrity and NIchols closed out the scoring with Garrity and Nichols scoring on the power play.
Fourteen different Eagles scored points in the game, the second game in a row where Knolls had 10 or more players score either a goal or an assist.
---
Morris Knolls wins opener with 6-goal third period
The Morris Knolls High School hockey team opened its 2009-2010 season on a winning note with a 7-3 victory over Kinnelon in a Morris County Scholastic Hockey League game played at Mennen Arena in Morris Township on Thursday, Dec. 3.
The Eagles needed a six-goal explosion in the third period to notch the victory.
Knolls took a 1-0 first-period lead when Albert Abaunza scored the first of his two goals by converting a pass from Dillon Garrity for a power-play 6:14 into the game. Kinnelon (0-1) came back with two goals in less than a minute of the second period to take a 2-1 lead into the third period where the Eagles broke loose.
And then the fun started.
Thomas Larkin scored off a pass from Keith Lyden in the first minute of the final period to tie the score; Nick Farina put the Eagles ahead 3-2 when he scored the first of his two goals off a feed from Nick Spadone just 28 seconds later; and Nicholas Lieback scored what proved to be the game-winner when he scored unassisted with 13:45 on the clock.
Kinnelon got its third goal to cut the lead to 4-3 but Connor Manning, Farina and Abaunza followed with goals in the final 8:20 of play.
Manning scored with assists from Jack Monahan and Billy Nichols; Abaunza and Lieback got assists on Farina's goal; and Lieback assisted on Abaunza's second goal of the game, a short-handed score with 40 seconds left to play.
Ten different Eagles scored points in the game with Abaunza leading the way with two goals and an assist. Liebeck finished with three points on a goal and two assists and Farina was a multiple-point scorer with his two goals.
