Magical Run Comes to End for Madison Hockey

MORRISTOWN – As with any long playoff run, the Madison High School ice hockey team needed a few bounces to go its way to get this close to playing for a state championship.

But Wednesday night at Mennen Arena, the Dodgers' magic finally ran out, and they were eliminated by No. 8 seed West Essex, 2-0, in the semifinals of the NJSIAA Public B tournament.

It was a tense, hard-fought, defensive clinic that saw West Essex grab an early second-period lead and withstand Madison's offensive pressure. The Dodgers had opportunities to score on West Essex goalie Mike Cuozzo on a number of rebounds, but Cuozzo stood strong, stopping all 22 shots he faced.

"It could have went either way," said Madison coach Dave Hansen. "If we had gotten the first bounce, or we had executed better on the power play, we might have come out with the W."

Madison had a golden chance to tie the score at 1-1 in the final minutes, but a power play turned into a shorthanded, game-clinching breakaway goal for John Fox with 1:43 to go.

West Essex (18-6-3) advances to play 10th-seeded Hopewell Valley, upset overtime winners over No. 3 Jefferson earlier Wednesday evening, in Saturday's Public B final at the Prudential Center in Newark.

Madison, the 21st seed in the tournament, ends its 2009-10 campaign–by far the best in recent school history–with a record of 17-6-2.

"We left everything out on the ice," said Madison senior Brett Perry. "I couldn't have asked for anything more from the players and the coaches. They all gave everything they could, and I just wanted to thank them for that."

The Dodgers got the first break of the game, drawing a tripping penalty 11 minutes into the first period. But they wouldn't be able to capitalize on any of their three power plays, West Essex's defense holding Madison without a shot on goal each time.

The Knights scored the all-important first goal of the game 90 seconds into the second period. Grant Perry (21 saves) stopped Fox's inital shot, but the rebound caromed to Jack Boyd-Dias, who stood in front of the undefended side of the goal and backhanded it home.

"We watched a highlight video of when Madison lost 8-0 to West Morris (in the Haas Cup final last Friday)," Fox said. "They scored a bunch of goals on that same play, the backhand, backdoor pass."

Lead in hand, West Essex seemed content to play defense. The Dodgers dominated possession and had the lion's share of the scoring chances during the last two-thirds of the second period. But Madison appeared hesitant to shoot, perhaps trying to find a perfect shot to test Cuozzo.

"We moved the puck well into the zone, I thought," Hansen said. "But we were afraid to shoot the puck tonight and crash the net. You can't score if you don't shoot."

When the Dodgers did shoot from semi-close range, Cuozzo gave up rebounds. But Madison could never get a clean second chance. The puck bounced high in the air off Cuozzo's shoulder pads, or just out of the reach of a Madison forward rushing the net, or in the middle of two or three Knight sticks. The Dodgers were frustratingly close to tying the score, but were denied.

Still, the West Essex lead was just 1-0 after two.

Madison picked up its second power-play chance with a too-many-men penalty four minutes into the third, after Greg Maxwell passed the puck and inadvertently hit a West Essex player in the midst of a line change. But West Essex's penalty kill withstood the pressure again.

The Dodgers only managed six shots on goal in the third period, launching wild shot after wild shot in desperation as time ticked away. When needed, Cuozzo kept Madison out of the net, including making a tough pad save on a deflection with 5:51 left.

"We needed to make their goalie move," Hansen said. "We watched him in warm-ups, and he wasn't moving side-to-side real well. But we didn't really test him. We kind of shot it right at him, didn't make him move."

Madison had one last major chance to tie the score, drawing a hooking penalty with 3:01 remaining.

But the West Essex penalty kill again did an excellent job of icing the puck and making it difficult to enter their defensive end. Once the Dodgers did get inside, they again were prevented from putting anything on net.

Travis Trent blocked a shot that set up Fox for the climactic breakaway, and Fox beat Perry at the inside post with 1:43 left to seal the victory.

Despite the disappointing finish, Hansen was thrilled that his team had exceeded expectations and put together possibly the best season in Madison hockey history.

"We had some fantastic wins against Mahwah and Chatham in the playoffs," Hansen said. "If you had told me we'd play those teams this year, I don't think anyone would have had confidence that we could play with them. But we worked so hard, all year, and it showed."

For Madison, the loss was a disappointing end to a wonderful season. Four of the Dodgers' 13 skaters Wednesday–Brett Perry, Charlie Olendorp, Will Remig and Maxwell–played their final games in a Madison uniform.

Those seniors shepherded the Madison program from an eight-win team in 2006-07 to 17 wins, a state semifinal appearance and a win over rival Chatham this year.

"I remember my first year here, no one was really that intense," Perry said. "It was really laid back, we were goofing around. Then, over the years, everyone started listening to coach more, focusing more, and we got better each year. And this was my most memorable year. I'll remember just about every game I played this year."


SCORING SUMMARY
[21] Madison       0  0  0  -  0
[8] West Essex   0  1  1  -  2

FIRST PERIOD
None

SECOND PERIOD
W- Jack Boyd-Dias (from John Fox), 1:29

THIRD PERIOD
W- Fox (shorthanded,  from Travis Trent and Matt Trenk), 13:17


SHOTS ON GOAL
[21] Madison         5  11  6  -  22
[8] West Essex   10    6  7  -  23