MORRISTOWN -- The Chatham High School hockey team appeared frustrated. As it took on upstart Madison in the state quarterfinals Sunday, the Cougars appeared to be the better team in every category - except for the most important. And as the clock ticked away, frustration turned to dejection.
When the final buzzer sounded, Madison, the No. 21 seed, had stunned fourth-seeded Chatham, 3-2, in NJSIAA Public B quarterfinals at Mennen Arena.
Danny Casey and Billy Pellegrino each scored for the Cougars, who finished their season at 14-10-3.
Madison (17-5-2) advances to play eighth-seeded West Essex in the Public B semifinals Wednesday night at Mennen Arena.
The Cougars threw everything they could at the underdog Dodgers, peppering Madison goalie Grant Perry with 35 shots. But the freshman stopped 33 of them.
On the other side, Madison's opportunistic offense found a way to score two goals on just 14 shots before adding an empty-netter in the final minute.
"Madison played a great game," said Chatham coach Harvey Cohen. "They capitalized on their scoring chances and their goalie played great."
The Dodgers scored first, a power play goal, on an Erik Andersson slapshot with 7:37 to go in the second period. Up to that point, neither team had shown a decided advantage in a close-to-the-vest, defensive struggle, resulting in just 10 combined first-period shots.
Chatham would up its offensive pressure immediately afterward but was frustrated by the Madison trap.
"There was no lack of effort tonight," Cohen said. "They worked as hard as they could. But Madison caused us to make certain mistakes, and we had trouble finishing."
The Cougars finally evened it up with 2:17 left in the second, seconds after a Chatham power play ended. Danny Casey kept an attempted clearance in the Madison zone, and he fired a slapshot that just bounced off Perry and into the net.
The Dodgers would capitalize on a similar mistake at the other end of the ice just minutes later. This time, it was Brett Perry intercepting a clearance at the slot. He found an open lane to the net and fired a high slapshot, which beat Mortensen and gave Madison a 2-1 lead after two periods.
In the third period, Chatham never relented.
The Cougars seemed to live inside the blue line - including one tense stretch of two consecutive minutes in the attacking zone in the final seven minutes - but their every attack was repelled by a tiring Dodger defense.
"I knew they would come up and shoot from everywhere," said Madison coach Dave Hansen. "I thought we would face 40 shots tonight, and they came close. We made sure to keep them outside. If they scored from outside, then it's just a great shot. We wanted to keep them in the corner all night, and our defensive coverage was right on."
Cohen called a timeout with just under two minutes to play, setting up the Cougars' final push. Mortensen was pulled with about one minute left, but Madison's defense held strong against the extra attacker.
Before Chatham could get a clean look at the Madison net, Andersson broke away into the neutral zone with the puck and only one defender between he and an empty net goal. Rather than firing a long-distance shot, Andersson skated to the slot and put it between the legs of the defender and in the net.
Billy Pellegrino made things interesting when he scored with 11 seconds to play to cut Madison's lead to 3-2, but the Cougars couldn't get the puck back in the Madison zone before time ran out.
The Cougars were looking to advance past the state quarterfinals for the first time since 2005.
"I told the kids that I appreciated their efforts," Cohen said. "I love them."
SCORING SUMMARY
[21] Madison 0 2 1 - 3
[4] Chatham 0 1 1 - 2
FIRST PERIOD
None
SECOND PERIOD
MAD- Erik Andersson (power play, unassisted), 7:23
CHAT- Danny Casey (unassisted), 12:43
MAD- Brett Perry (from Lou Cecala), 13:58
THIRD PERIOD
MAD- Andersson (empty net, unassisted), 14:22
CHAT- Billy Pellegrino (unassisted), 14:49
SHOTS ON GOAL
[21] Madison 4 6 5 - 15
[4] Chatham 6 16 13 - 35
