Madison's Haas Cup Final Loss Marred By Ugly Brawl

MORRISTOWN – The Madison ice hockey team's storybook season took an abrupt turn Friday night.

The Dodgers were thoroughly beaten, 8-0, by West Morris in the Haas Cup final at Mennen Arena. Making matters worse, four Madison players were kicked off the ice in the third period–three following an ugly brawl in front of the Madison goal.

At a team meeting Saturday morning, Madison coach Dave Hansen and assistant Joe Swanson decided to allow their team to play Sunday's 4 p.m. NJSIAA Public B quarterfinal against Chatham at Mennen Arena.

"It's up in the air," Swanson said Friday night. "We had a disqualification, and we haven't decided whether or not to suspend the kids who were thrown out. If we do, having enough players for Sunday would be a major issue for us."

The three players who were kicked out–Lou Cecala, Spencer Waresk and Brett Perry, the former two as a result of the fight–will all be allowed to play Sunday, though Swanson said Cecala and Waresk would be on a "short leash." Brett Anton, who was given a disqualification, will not travel with the team.

The fight broke out with 7:36 to play in the third period, and West Morris ahead 6-0. A collision near the Madison net led to pushing and shoving, which escalated into punches thrown by both teams.

Three players from each team were sent off to serve their 10-minute misconduct penalties, which carried through to the end of the game, in the locker room.

The players ejected were Cecala, Waresk and Anton, along with West Morris' Eric Seymoure, Devon Hall and Ryan Creamer. Creamer, like Anton, was given a disqualification for fighting.

"We lost our composure," Swanson said. "We try to instill the values of winning like men and losing like men. I expect that if we're going to lose, we'll lose like men, not children."

A seventh player, Perry, was sent off the ice for an unrelated matter several minutes later.

All told, the ugliness overshadowed not only Madison's exceptional run this past week - which saw them reach their second straight Haas Cup final and pick up the first two state tournament wins in program history - but also a game that was dominated from start to finish by first-time Haas Cup champions West Morris.

"They came out to play," Swanson said. "Their system was flawless."

Madison (16-5-2) opened with a flurry, launching eight shots in the first five minutes on West Morris goalie Rob Primavera (21 saves).

The Dodgers had several golden chances, including Cecala flipping a rebound just over the crossbar. But the first five-minute segment of the first period would be the last one in which they had an advantage over the Wolfpack (15-6-2).

Unlike Madison, which played state tournament games Monday and Wednesday, the Wolfpack were eliminated from NJSIAA play in the first round and had the remainder of this week to concentrate on the cup final.

West Morris used its speed to its advantage, keeping two men close to the Madison net at all times while still being able to get back in defense.

The strategy worked to perfection, leading to a Matt Domaratzky goal from the slot midway through the first period, and allowing West Morris to keep furious pressure on the Madison net all night long.

"They kept a man in the slot, and another man near the post, all night long," Swanson said. "They could basically pick and choose their shot."

The Wolfpack went up 2-0 after Eddie Hall broke free inside the blue line, found Kevin Cotter all alone near Madison goalie Grant Perry for the finish.

Perry, who made 37 saves, kept the Dodgers in the game for a little while, making a number of beautiful saves on West Morris breakaways in the first and second periods.

But the Wolfpack were simply too relentless and physical, and Madison simply couldn't match West Morris' aggressiveness. The Dodgers' forwards tried in vain all game to skate through Wolfpack defenders.

"We tried to take it wide and go straight at the goal," Swanson said. "We probably should have worked inside-out. We didn't really get to test their goalie."

Meanwhile, West Morris' forwards consistently skated with the puck towards Perry virtually untouched.

"There was no backchecking tonight," Swanson said. "I don't know how many times one of their kids skated between two of our defenders without getting hit."

It was a far cry from the two regular-season meetings, both won by Madison in fairly comfortable fashion. West Morris dominated the puck in the neutral zone, and forced most of the action to take place in Madison's defensive zone.

The score remained 2-0 until late in the second period. Madison freshman Erik Andersson had a breakaway chance, but Primavera stonewalled him.

West Morris' crisp passing set up their third goal, scored by Chris Williams, who made a perfect shot while falling down. The Wolfpack piled on with two more goals in the next 97 seconds, both on medium-range slapshots by Matt Shultis.

Down 5-0 entering the third period, the Dodgers were understandably down on themselves.

"We were discouraged," Swanson said. "We reflected back on the game against Summit, and for them it was really putting it in that perspective."

Madison had come back from a five-goal deficit against Summit to force a 6-6 ti three weeks ago, but as time ticked away, they began to get frustrated.

Cotter's power play goal with 9:47 left made it 6-0 before both teams lost control of their emotions, leading to the melee in front of the Madison net.

"We walked into this game extremely confident, as we should have been," Swanson said. "We couldn't find a groove, and not being able to do something kind of broke us down. Their emotions got a hold of them. At that point, there's not much we can do as coaches short of jumping on the ice, which is another disqualification."

After tempers cooled and play resumed, little changed. West Morris outshot Madison 16-4 in the third period, and 45-21 for the game.

Williams and Tyler Kavanaugh added the final exclamation points, scoring the Wolfpack's seventh and eighth goals in the final five minutes.

West Morris' eight goals were the most allowed by a Madison team since Jan. 14, 2008. The Dodgers were shut out for the first time since Feb. 17, 2009.

NEXT UP

The 21st-seeded Dodgers will play their Public B quarterfinal against neighborhood rival Chatham Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Mennen Arena. The Cougars are seeded fourth in the tournament, most recently defeating No. 13 Lakeland, 5-2, in the second round Thursday.

SCORING SUMMARY
West Morris  2  3  3  -  8
Madison          0  0  0  -  0

FIRST PERIOD
WM- Matt Domaratzky (from Tyler Kavanaugh), 8:48
WM- Kevin Cotter (from Eddie Hall and Matt Stypulkoski), 11:50

SECOND PERIOD
WM- Chris Williams (from Cotter and Hall), 12:03
WM- Matt Shultis (from Kavanaugh and Eric Seymoure), 13:00
WM- Shultis (from Kavanaugh), 13:40

THIRD PERIOD
WM- Cotter (power play, from Seymoure), 5:13
WM- Williams (shorthanded, unassisted), 10:04
WM- Kavanaugh (power play, from Shultis), 13:11

SHOTS ON GOAL
West Morris   16  13  16  -  45
Madison             9    7    5   -  21