Perry, Madison Hockey Shut Out Mount Olive

MORRISTOWN – The pressure will start to ratchet up a bit once the Madison High School hockey team enters single-elimination tournament play next week. But if the Dodgers can stay on their current roll, pressure may not make a difference.

Lou Cecala's hat trick and Grant Perry's 18 saves lifted Madison past Mount Olive, 5-0, in the Dodgers' regular-season finale Monday night at Mennen Arena.

The Dodgers (12-4-2, 10-2-1 Haas) extended their unbeaten streak to four, and they finish the 2009-10 regular season with an identical league record to last season, which Madison head coach Dave Hansen didn't expect back in December.

"I told (assistant coach) Joe (Swanson) that we were going to be nowhere near as good as we were last year," Hansen said. "But the boys began to buy into what we've been trying to instill. Once they started seeing that the things we were telling them worked, they started to believe in the system."

Madison had a sterling regular season and should be one of the favorites to win the Haas Cup, which begins next week (see below). With their win Monday, the Dodgers have beaten all but one of the nine other teams entered in the tournament (Montville, who went 1-0-1 against Madison).

Part of the credit goes to the consistent, veteran presence of players like Cecala, who has scored 11 goals over the Dodgers' last four games.

But those contributions are balanced by an impressive crop of freshmen, including Perry, who stopped all 18 shots he faced Monday night to record his second shutout of the season.

"Grant's getting more and more comfortable as he's played more varsity hockey," Hansen said. "It's going to show once we get to the playoffs."

Mount Olive (13-6-1, 6-5-1), the Charette Division champions, could not get close enough to Perry to launch clear attempts on net. In the second period, the Marauders recorded just two shots, despite benefiting from three power plays.

In the third period, Perry stonewalled every Mount Olive chance, despite once more watching his defense spend six of the final 15 minutes with a man disadvantage.

"I think I'm playing well," Perry said. "Defense comes first on our team, that's what we're all about. Charlie (Olendorp), Bobby (Yutko) and Greg (Maxwell) were shifting the entire game, playing hard. They really helped me out by stopping them from coming inside, forcing them to take low-quality outside shots."

Perry's efforts ensured that the Dodgers didn't suffer from another slow start. Madison's offense was sluggish in the first period, recording just eight shots, and spending much of their time in Mount Olive's zone trying to score one-on-one.

But unlike in recent games in which Madison got off to a slow start–including a 5-0 first-period deficit in Friday's 6-6 tie with Summit–the Dodgers drew first blood.

Just over three minutes in, Erik Andersson (two assists in the game) fired a perfect pass to Cecala, who made two nice moves to beat the Mount Olive goalie, easily scoring.

But after a lethargic final 10 minutes of the first period, the Dodgers' lead was just one goal.

"We had a lot of guys taking it wide," Swanson said. "We knew we had the ability to get to the net, but we didn't capitalize on a team level. There was just a lot of individual play out here."

Madison doubled its lead early in the second period, when Brett Anton found a bit of open space at the slot. His slapshot was true, and Madison lead, 2-0, with 8:50 to play in the second period.

"We're playing very strong, with a lot of momentum right now," Perry said. "Brett and Louie are playing really well. They can spark our offense quickly."

Cecala scored his second goal on what has become his trademark of late–a nifty backhander–and he finished his hat trick on a shorthanded goal with two minutes to play.

Madison was without senior center Brett Perry, who was away visiting colleges. This game had been scheduled for last week, but was postponed due to snow.

HAAS NOTES
Monday's results cleared up the Haas Cup seedings considerably, though Madison will have to wait until Wednesday night to learn their seeding and quarterfinal opponent.

Madison's win, coupled with Roxbury's 2-2 tie with Montville Monday afternoon, moved the Dodgers and Gaels into a tie for the Haas Division title with 21 points. If Roxbury (10-1-1) ties or defeats West Morris Wednesday night, they will earn the division title and the top seed in the Haas Cup.

If Roxbury loses to West Morris, Madison would earn both their second straight Haas Division crown, as well as the No. 1 seed based on goal differential in the teams' two meetings. Madison split with Roxbury, but won 7-3 and lost 6-3.

Elsewhere in the Haas Cup bracket: Montville's tie with Roxbury ensured the Mustangs the fourth seed in the Haas Division. Montville will play Park Regional in a preliminary round game, with the winner facing Charette champion Mount Olive in the quarterfinals Feb. 22.

2010 Haas Cup tentative pairings
All games at Mennen Arena
Preliminary Round
--[C4] Morris Hills vs [C5] Morris Catholic (Thursday, 8:15 p.m.)
--[H4] Montville vs [H5] Park Regional (Saturday, 6:15 p.m.)

Quarterfinals
--[H1] Madison or Roxbury vs. Morris Hills/Morris Catholic winner (Saturday, 8:15 p.m.)
--[C2] Parsippany vs. [H3] West Morris (Monday, 4:30 p.m.)
--[C1] Mount Olive vs. Montville/Park Regional winner (Monday, 8:30 p.m.)
--[H2] Madison or Roxbury vs. [C3] Parsippany Hills (Monday, 6:30 p.m.)

Semifinals
--Madison or Roxbury/Morris Hills/Morris Catholic winner vs. Parsippany/West Morris winner (Wednesday, Feb. 24, 4:15 p.m.)
--Mount Olive/Montville/Park Regional winner vs. Madison or Roxbury/Parsippany Hills winner (Thursday, Feb. 25, 4:15 p.m.)

Final
--Semifinal winners (Saturday, February 27, 2:30 p.m.)

SCORING SUMMARY
Mount Olive    0  0  0  -  0
Madison             1  1   3  -  5

FIRST PERIOD
MAD- Lou Cecala (from Erik Andersson), 3:07

SECOND PERIOD
MAD- Brett Anton (from Cecala), 6:10

THIRD PERIOD
MAD- Cecala (from Bobby Yutko), 1:43
MAD- Spencer Waresk (from Anton and Reilly Gardner), 7:29
MAD- Cecala (shorthanded, from Andersson), 12:38

SHOTS ON GOAL
Mount Olive     9  2  7  -  18
Madison             8  6  7  -  21