John Dinnocenzo had a sensational five goal, one assist performance to give Middletown North an 8-6 win over Wayne Hills in the opening round of the Public “B” state ice hockey tournament.  SSZ has the highlights of the Lions win as well as the rest of the scores involving Shore Conference teams

Middletown North 8 Wayne Hills 6

John Dinnocenzo had five goals and one assist to lead the Lions into the second round of the Public “B” state tournament.  After falling behind 2-1 at the end of one period, Dinnocenzo got his scoring binge started with an early goal in the second followed by two more to give the Lions a 4-3 lead.  Middletown North scored three goals in the span of 3:14 to take a 5-3 lead at the end of two periods, but Wayne Hills drew even at 5 midway through the third period.  Dinnocenzo scored two more goals and the Evan Hall’s second of the game proved to be the game winner.  Brad Heuer was the other Middletown North goal scorer and John Hallard finished with four assists.  The Lions advance to face #4 seed Chatham in the second round on Thursday.  Watch all the great goals and post-game reaction from a Lions post-season win:

Thanks to Beacon Awards for sponsoring our Middletown North coverage on SSZ and giving us a chance to cover great moments in all Lions sports!

State Hockey Playoff Scores

Public “A”

(6) Freehold Township 6  (27) Monroe 1

Public “B”

(13) Middletown North 8  (20) Wayne Hills 6

(10) Wall 9  (23) Johnson 1

Non-Public

(14) Saint John Vianney 11  (19) Frisch 1

(15) Notre Dame 3  (18) Saint Rose 2 *shootout*

Second Round State Hockey Playoff Schedule

Public “A”

(9) Princeton at (8) Southern Regional, Thursday 5:15 pm

(11) Sparta/Jefferson at (6) Freehold Township, TBD

(18) Manalapan at (2) Ridge, Friday 6:30 pm

Public “B”

(16) Jackson Memorial at (1) Glen Rock, Friday 7:15 pm

(12) Point Pleasant Boro at (5) Indian Hills, Friday 8:30 pm

(13) Middletown North at (4) Chatham, Thursday 6:15 pm

(19) Jackson Liberty at (3) Middletown South, Friday 6:15 pm

(10) Wall at (7) Roxbury, TBD

Non-Public

(13) St. Joseph-Metuchen at (4) CBA, Thursday 6:30 pm

(14) Saint John Vianney at (3) Don Bosco Prep, Thursday 7:15 pm