Morristown Ices Westfield in State Hockey Action

After battling their way back in the game by winning the second and third periods by one goal, the Westfield Blue Devils saw their season come to an end on a goal that resulted in a bounce of the puck going Morristown's way.

At 6:51 of sudden death overtime Jordan Klotz scored his second goal of the game to send eighth-seeded Morristown past ninth-seeded Westfield 3-2 in a Public A first round state tournament game Thursday night at Mennen Arena in Morris Township.

Klotz, after a scramble in front of Westfield junior goalie Morgan Bungerz, got his stick on the loose puck and was able to push it into the net for the game-winner.

Morristown won its second straight to improve to 15-10-0 and will next face 16th-seeded Toms River South Saturday at 6 p.m. at South Mountain Arena in West Orange in a quarterfinal. Earlier Thursday at Mennen, Toms River South stunned top-seeded Morristown 3-1 in first round play. Morris Knolls was 17-2-3 going in, while Toms River South was 21-2-2.

Westfield finished one of its best seasons ever at 17-7-4. The Blue Devils set the school record for wins in a season at 17, finished third in the Union County Ice Hockey League and reached the Union County Cup final for the first time.

"It's been a great season and I'm real proud of the kids," said Westfield eighth-year head coach Dennis Doherty. "It's a tough way to end it. I wish they could go down and bury a beautiful goal and lose that way, but I'm proud of the kids."

Morristown scored twice after firing seven shots on goal in the game's first seven-plus minutes, coming on like gangbusters at the onset. Klotz scored after two Bungerz saves to give the Colonials a 1-0 lead four minutes in and then three minutes later senior Trey Peacock scored from close range off assists from Zach Morad and Klotz.

Klotz had two goals and one assist and Peacock one goal and two assists.

Morristown had a 7-4 edge in shots on goal when it went up 2-0 and was skating past Westfield every chance it got.

"We could have easily just kind of packed it in when we were down 2-0, but we showed some guts in coming back and I'm proud of the kids for that," Doherty said.

After being outplayed for most of the first period, Westfield actually finished the first 15 minutes with one more shot on goal than Morristown, firing three late for a 9-8 edge in that department.

Bungerz made five quality saves in the second period before Westfield got on the scoreboard at the 8:38 mark when junior right wing Nick Attanasio fired a shot past Morristown goalie Ben Rudinski, who finished with 29 saves.

Again Westfield had a 9-8 edge in shots on goal for the period, but this time controlled the tempo of play a bit more.

As the third period progressed, the Blue Devils kept attacking more, with Morristown clearly not in any kind of rhythm offensively like it was early in the contest.

Westfield fired five shots on goal before Morristown registered its first, which took the Colonials nearly 10 minutes to do.

With time winding down, the Blue Devils were able to knot the contest at 2-2 before having to make the decision of whether or not to pull Bungerz for a sixth skater.

This time it was junior center and assistant captain CJ Meyer who turned around and fired a right-handed slapshot past Rudinski with just 2:21 remaining to tie it. Assists went to junior left wing Henry O'Brien – his second – and to Attanasio, with Westfield now sky high for the first time.

At that point in the third period, the Blue Devils held an 8-1 advantage in shots on goal and 26-17 for the game.

Morristown countered with two quick shots on goal – the Colonials were only able to register three for the entire period - and then Westfield managed one more.

There were only three penalties in regulation, with the first two – minors for each team – not being called until the very end of the second period.

Morristown had to kill a two-minute penalty for hooking with exactly eight minutes left in the third after Attanasio was taken down. Westfield managed only one shot on goal during the man-advantage.

In sudden death overtime, Westfield had to kill a minor penalty for holding and did so after Bungerz stopped two shots on goal during the two minutes.

Senior defenseman and captain Joe Kramkowski fired a strong shot on goal when Westfield was short-handed, with Rudinski making a fine save.

All five goals were at even strength.

"We played our game, we've been playing the same," Doherty said. "Our first line does a lot of our scoring and they scored both of our goals again tonight.

"We had to shorten the bench, pretty much, after the second period. We played with a small bench, but we had some strength. We did some great training this year which gave us some legs in the third period.

"They shortened the bench too and we had more energy than they did."

After last year's 10-10-2 overall record and 6-4-2 first-year UCIHL mark, the Blue Devils won their first three games this year and then went 4-0-1 to get to 7-2-2. A 5-0-2 stretch put their record at 14-4-4 in the middle of February.

Westfield went 7-3-2 for 16 points in finishing third in the UCIHL standings this season.

Leading the way on defense were Kramkowski and fellow senior captain Dylan Moran.

"I'm real proud of my seniors and I'm going to miss them tremendously, especially Joe and Dylan, who have been with me for four years," Doherty said.

The other seniors are forwards Zander Maslow and Matt Wronski.

Kramkowski and Moran were four-year varsity players.

"They're two guys who will be tough to replace," Doherty said. "This senior class had four seasons of over-.500 hockey and I think they had close to 55 wins as a class in four years. They should be proud of the 17 wins this year because that's a record that will be tough to beat."

PUBLIC A FIRST ROUND GAME AT MENNEN ARENA

9-WESTFIELD (17-7-4)                              0      1     1    0 - 2

8-MORRISTOWN (15-10-0)                       2      0     0   1 - 3

FIRST PERIOD:

MORRISTOWN – Goal: Jordan Klotz. Assist: Trey Peacock.

Time of goal: 4:00. Morristown leads 1-0.

MORRISTOWN – Goal: Trey Peacock. Assists: Zach Morad, Jordan Klotz. Time of goal: 7:15. Morristown leads 2-0.

Shots on goal: Westfield 9, Morristown 8.

Goalie saves: Westfield 6, Morristown 9.

SECOND PERIOD:

WESTFIELD - Goal: Nick Attanasio. Assists: CJ Meyer, Henry O'Brien.

Time of goal: 8:38. Morristown leads 2-1.

Shots on goal: Westfield 9, Morristown 8.

Goalie saves: Westfield 8, Morristown 8.

THIRD PERIOD:

WESTFIELD – Goal: CJ Meyer. Assists: Henry O'Brien, Nick Attanasio.

Time of goal: 12:39. Game tied 2-2.

Shots on goal: Westfield 9, Morristown 3.

Goalie saves: Westfield 3, Morristown 8.

SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME:

MORRISTOWN – Goal: Jordan Klotz. Assists: Jim Donnelly, Trey Peacock. Time of goal: 6:51. Morristown wins 3-2.

Shots on goal: Westfield 4, Morristown 5.

Goalie saves: Westfield 4, Morristown 4.

GAME TOTALS:

Goals: Westfield - Nick Attanasio, CJ Meyer. Morristown – Jordan Klotz 2, Trey Peacock.

Assists: Westfield – Henry O'Brien 2, CJ Meyer, Nick Attanasio. Morristown – Trey Peacock 2, Zach Morad, Jordan Klotz, Jim Donnelly.

Shots on goal: Westfield 31, Morristown 24.

Goalie saves: Morgan Bungerz, Westfield, 21. Ben Rudinski, Morristown, 29.