Perry's Hat Trick Lifts Madison Hockey To Sixth Straight Win

MORRISTOWN – Madison High School ice hockey coach Dave Hansen was so thrilled with the Dodgers' 6-2 victory over the Newton/Lenape Valley co-op team Sunday night at Mennen Arena, he crumpled his stat sheet and muttered, "Terrible!" before disappearing into the locker room.

"We can never be consistent," Hansen said later. "We can't come off a quality win and play well for 45 minutes. I'm obviously happy we got the win, but did it make us better? Probably not."

Brett Perry notched a hat trick for Madison, while Erik Andersson added a goal and three assists. Tyler Conrads scored both goals for Newton/Lenape-Valley (4-6-1).

At the very least, the Madison coach was happy that the Dodgers (8-2-1) won their sixth straight game – and eighth out of their last nine – and they did it in fairly easy fashion.

Perry scored twice in the game's first six minutes, and Charlie Olendorp added a third to bury Newton/Lenape Valley early. At the time of Olendorp's goal, just under 10 minutes into the first period, the Dodgers had outshot their opponents, 10-1.

Conrads put the co-op team on the board with a power play goal in the final minute of the first period, but Andersson restored Madison's three-goal lead with three seconds to play, wristing a long shot from near the blue line above the left faceoff circle past goalie Mike Reinhardt.

"We sort of stopped playing after the good start," Hansen said. "We just wanted to go home, I think."

Madison outshot Newton/Lenape Valley for the game, 35-14, dominating possession and playing most of the first and third periods in the Newton/Lenape Valley defensive zone. But once Madison took its 4-1 lead, Hansen said the Dodgers got bogged down.

"We had too much passing," the coach said. "Yeah, we took 35 shots, but they were mostly in the goalie's chest. We had a ton of MSOs, missed scoring opportunities, tonight."

Neither team scored in a mostly listless second period which saw each team attempt six shots on goal. In the third period, the two teams combined for 20 penalty minutes, leading to three power play goals–two for Madison, one for Newton/Lenape Valley. Perry scored his third goal with Madison holding a two-man advantage five minutes into the third period.

The Dodgers launched a number of shots on Reinhardt on multiple power plays–including a 5-on-3 advantage that lasted a full minute–but had little success. Adding to Hansen's frustration, Madison took three penalties while the game remained well in hand.

"A penalty in your defensive zone, it's not ideal, but we can take that," Hansen said. "There's no excuse for a penalty in the offensive zone. There's no need for that."

Conrads scored Newton/Lenape Valley's second goal with 5:35 remaining, as part of a 4-on-3 power play. Olendorp, a defenseman closed out the scoring with his second goal, a low slapshot that slipped between Reinhardt's legs.

Madison goalie Ryan Wilsea, backing up Grant Perry, stopped 10 of the 11 shots he faced over the final two periods.

"Everyone got ice time, which was nice," Hansen said. "All the kids work hard in practice, in dry-land practice, so on a night like tonight it's good to get them all in the game."

UP NEXT

The Dodgers enter a crucial week of Haas Division competition that will go a long way towards deciding their seed for next month's Haas Cup. Madison plays Park Regional (4-7-2, 3-4-1) Thursday at 8:15 p.m. at Mennen Arena in the first of two meetings between the teams. Park has struggled against Haas opponents (0-4-1) this season. Last year, the teams split their two meetings, with Madison winning, 3-0, on Dec. 13, 2008, and Park winning, 5-3, on Jan. 17, 2009.

SCORING SUMMARY

Newton/Len. Valley    1  0  1  -  2

Madison                           4  0  2  -  6

FIRST PERIOD

M- Brett Perry (from Erik Andersson), 3:22

M- Perry (shorthanded, from Andersson), 5:27

M- Charlie Olendorp (from Spencer Waresk), 9:49

N- Tyler Conrads (power play, unassisted), 14:05

M- Andersson (from Greg Maxwell), 14:57

SECOND PERIOD

None

THIRD PERIOD

M- Perry (5-on-3 power play, unassisted), 5:49

N- Conrads (4-on-3 power play, unassisted), 9:25

M- Olendorp (power play, from Andersson), 13:53

SHOTS ON GOAL

Newton/Len. Valley   3  6    5  -  14

Madison                         11  6  18  -  35