In order to get past an undefeated Morris Knolls ice hockey team to reach the Cron Tournament championship game, Westfield needed to be at full strength.
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, they had to play most of Monday night's semifinal game against the Golden Eagles of Morris County minus one of their top players.
Senior defenseman and team captain Joe Kromkowski – along with Morris Knolls left wing Nick Farina – were both given game misconduct penalties for fighting at the 1:20 mark of the first period.
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Morris Knolls was able to sustain the loss of Farina far more than Westfield was able to excel without Kromkowski in its lineup.
The Blue Devils, sparked by an outstanding effort from sophomore goaltender Steve Wronski, were able to hang in for one period against the perennial power from Denville.
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However, Westfield could not keep up and in the second and third periods the shots on goal were growing wider and wider in favor of the Golden Eagles.
After the score was tied in the first period, Morris Knolls scored five goals in each of the second and third periods en route to a commanding 11-1 triumph by the 10-goal rule in a game played at Warinanco Ice Skating Rink in Roselle.
Wronski made 17 of his 27 saves in the first period when Westfield was outshot 18-2 in the 15-minute stanza.
The Blue Devils even managed to take a 1-0 lead at the 9:09 mark of the first period on a goal provided by junior right wing Nick Attanasio off a nice feed from junior center CJ Meyer. The two executed a nice two-on-one, with Meyer passing the puck to Attanasio from the right side.
Attanasio fired a shot that went through the legs of Morris Knolls goalie Tim Kuznetsov. It was only Westfield's second shot on goal, with junior left wing Henry O'Brien also earning an assist on the play.
Without Kromkowski in the game and playing on defense and Westfield unable to generate any kind of rhythm offensively, Morris Knolls took advantage, skated as fast as it could, and kept on peppering shots on goal.
Wronski kept Westfield in the game with his fine goaltending up until early in the second period. The only goal he allowed in the first period was a fine one by Morris Knolls reserve forward Dillon Garrity, who flicked a shot into the upper left corner of the net to the surprise of many, including Wronski.
As the second period progressed, Morris Knolls shots kept on coming and this time they were going in.
The Golden Eagles even managed to score shorthanded goals in both the second and third periods.
"We can't afford to lose that kind of player and he knows that," Westfield head coach Dennis Doherty said of Kromkowski. "He knows that he needs to be on the ice and that killed the entire game plan."
Morris Knolls improved to 5-0 and will play in Wednesday night's championship game at 8:30 at Warinanco against the winner of Monday night's second semifinal between Johnson (1-2) and Summit (3-0).
Westfield, now 3-1, will seek to bounce back from its first setback of the season in Wednesday's 6 p.m. third place game at Warinanco against the non-winner of the Johnson-Summit contest.
According to Monday night's refererees – Dave Brown and Andrew Suhovic – both Kromkowski and Farina will not be suspended for any games because they did not receive disqualification penalties.
Both will be allowed to play in their team's next games on Wednesday night.
"When you lose a player of that ilk, you just can't recover from that," Doherty said of Kromkowski.
Fellow senior captain and defenseman Dylan Moran was called for three two-minute minor penalties in the first period, although Westfield did well to kill all three without allowing a power play goal.
"What killed us in the beginning was that we took four penalties in the first period," Doherty said. "You can't put a team like that in the power play for half the game. After the first period, you're going to lose.
"We were lucky it was only 1-1 after the first period. We saw the writing on the wall when the shots were 18-2 in their favor."
Starting right wing Albert Abunza scored consecutive goals in the second period to give Morris Knolls the lead for good at 2-1 and its first insurance goal at 3-1. The Golden Eagles ended up scoring all 11 of their goals unanswered.
Abunza was the only Morris Knolls player to score more than one goal, with nine other Golden Eagles scoring single goals. Starting center Nick Lieback finished with one goal and three assists.
"This is very disappointing and I think the kids realize now that the work has only begun," Doherty said. "We're four games into a season, but, yeah, we were 3-0 and puff your chest out, but it doesn't mean anything."
Morris Knolls lost in the title game to first-time Cron Tournament winner Johnson of Clark 5-3 last year. Although Westfield will not win the crown for the first time this season, the Blue Devils still have a chance to play much better and earn a third-place victory Wednesday night.
"We're going to have a nice practice tomorrow (Tuesday) and see how the boys respond," Doherty said.
27TH ANNUAL CRON TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS
AT WARINANCO ICE SKATING RINK, ROSELLE
WESTFIELD (3-1) 1 0 0 - 1
MORRIS KNOLLS (5-0) 1 5 5 – 11
FIRST PERIOD:
WESTFIELD – Goal: Nick Attanasio. Assists: CJ Meyer, Henry O'Brien. Time of even strength goal: 9:09.
Westfield leads 1-0.
MORRIS KNOLLS – Goal: Dillon Garrity. Assist: Nick Lieback.
Time of even strength goal: 13:07.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Westfield 2, Morris Knolls 18.
SAVES: Westfield 17, Morris Knolls 1.
POWER PLAYS: Westfield 0-for-1, Morris Knolls 0-for-2.
SECOND PERIOD:
MORRIS KNOLLS – Goal: Albert Abunza. Assist: Nick Lieback.
Time of shorthanded goal: 3:02.
MORRIS KNOLLS – Goal: Albert Abunza. Assist: Nick Lieback.
Time of even strength goal: 5:09.
MORRIS KNOLLS – Goal: Nick Hussey. Assist: Billy Kostecki.
Time of even strength goal: 6:15.
MORRIS KNOLLS – Goal: Jack Monahan. Assist: James Toolen.
Time of even strength goal: 13:18.
MORRIS KNOLLS – Goal: Nick Lieback. Assists: Dillon Garrity, Keith Lyden. Time of even strength goal: 14:22.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Westfield 3, Morris Knolls 12.
SAVES: Westfield 7, Morris Knolls 3.
POWER PLAYS: Westfield 0-for-2, Morris Knolls 0-for-1.
THIRD PERIOD:
MORRIS KNOLLS – Goal: Brian Manning. Assists: None.
Time of even strength goal: 1:17.
MORRIS KNOLLS – Goal: Jack Monahan. Assists: Connor Manning, Billy Nichols. Time of even strength goal: 1:34.
MORRIS KNOLLS – Goal: Zachery Simmons. Assists: Andrew Campell, Keith Lyden. Time of even strength goal: 3:15.
MORRIS KNOLLS – Goal: Robert Casey. Assist: Billy Kostecki.
Time of shorthanded goal: 7:13.
MORRIS KNOLLS – Goal: Connor Manning. Assist: Billy Nichols.
Time of even strength goal: 7:48.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Westfield 1, Morris Knolls 8.
SAVES: Westfield 3, Morris Knolls 1.
POWER PLAYS: Westfield 0-for-1, Morris Knolls 0-for-0.
GAME TOTALS:
SHOTS ON GOAL: Westfield 6, Morris Knolls 38.
SAVES: Steve Wronski, Westfield, 27. Tim Kuznetsov, Morris Knolls, 5.
POWER PLAYS: Westfield 0-for-4, Morris Knolls 0-for-3.
CRON TOURNAMENT AT WARINANCO
TEAMS (8): Morris Knolls, Parsippany, Westfield, Cranford,
Summit, Mendham, Johnson, Scotch Plains.
FIRST ROUND
Monday, Dec. 7
Morris Knolls 9, Parsippany 1
Westfield 6, Cranford 2
Tuesday, Dec. 8
Summit 3, Mendham 1
Johnson 12, Scotch Plains 2
CONSOLATION GAMES
Thursday, Dec. 10
Cranford 5, Parsippany 2
Mendham 8, Scotch Plains 2
SEMIFINALS:
Monday, Dec. 14
Morris Knolls 11, Westfield 1
Summit vs. Johnson
FOR 7TH AND 5TH PLACE
Tuesday, Dec. 15
7TH PLACE: Parsippany vs. Scotch Plains, 6 p.m.
5TH PLACE: Mendham vs. Cranford, 8:30 p.m.
FOR 3RD AND 1ST PLACE:
Wednesday, Dec. 16
3RD PLACE: Semifinal non-winners, 6 p.m.
1ST PLACE: Semifinal winners, 8:30 p.m.
