Cranford Skates Past Parsippany in Tournament

It was only a matter of time before the Cranford hockey team found their chemistry. Last night, it was the right mix of veterans and newcomers who put together a solid 5-2 victory over Parsippany in the consolation round of the George Cron ice hockey tournament at Warinanco Park in Elizabeth.

The victory was the first this season after beginning with three straight losses.

"It was nice to get the first win after the way we started," said head coach Rich Hurley. "We played much better. We're starting to control the puck a lot more. We emphasized that with the kids the last couple of days. We had a lot more good offensive chances than we've had the last couple of games."

Senior forward Patrick Hartnett, who came off a county-leading 27-goal soccer season, picked up right where he left off, scoring twice in the second period to give his team a 2-1 lead at the 12:38 mark, finishing off an assist by Billy Davitt. Hartnett made it 3-1 less than two minutes later when he scored off an assist by Sean Feeney. The Cougars outshot Parsippany 24-21 for the game.

"We were able to create a lot of good scoring opportunities," said Hurley. "And they were coming from different kids, which was nice. There were very few guys who didn't have a chance to score. We had a well balanced attack, with lots of good looks. We would have liked to have converted a few more, but we still did okay."

Parsippany actually got on the board first when Mike Dezeno tallied at the 10:55 mark of the first period to make it 1-0. The game remained scoreless until 2:52 of the second when Eric Pawlick notched his fourth goal of the season off a feed by Sean Feeney to tie the game at 1-all.

"Eric's just got game-breaking kind of speed that most kids can't compete with," said Hurley. "He can blow by most guys out there. He's such a threat every time he goes on the ice. Every team is so aware of what he's doing, they have to be, and when you get a guy like that, it keeps teams on their toes. It's a tremendous asset, they're not worried as much about everybody else."

The line of Pawlick, Feeney and Tom Fitzgerald received kudos from the coach, as did goalie Theo Ballas, and Billy Davitt, who was just moved back to defense to help with the loss of Eddie Conte, out for six weeks with a broken kneecap.

"It's a work in progress," said Hurley. "Losing Eddie definitely hurts. Anytime you lose a top defenseman you have some adjustments you're going to have to make. But guys are stepping up and hopefully as the season goes on we'll improve even more, tighten up on 'd' and hang in there until we get Eddie back."

"We came out and played harder than we did against Westfield," said Davitt. "It's good to see the guys working as a team, passing the puck more, not trying to do too much and shooting more than usual."

Freshman Tom Fitzgerald helped the cause early in the third stanza, assisting on a goal by Feeney which pushed the Cougar lead to 4-1. Cranford wrapped up the scoring when Danny Murphy notched his first varsity goal on an empty-netter, putting the finishing touch on an impressive 5-2 victory.

"It's still early," said Davitt. "We're still getting to know each other, and starting to connect on the plays. We're young. The more practice we have, I think the better we'll get. We should be great by the end of the season."

Cranford will next play Monday at Warinanco Park in the Cron tournament consolation against Mendham, who defeated Scotch Plains-Fanwood by a final of 8-2 to earn their first win of the season.