Shane Haviland had a six point night to lead Wall to a 7-3 win over Middletown South in an All-Shore state semifinal in West Orange. SSZ has highlights of the Crimson Knights first ever trip to the hockey state championship as well as Middletown North falling short against Glen Rock
Wall 7 Middletown South 3
Shane Haviland had four goals and two assists and linemate Zach Tarantino added two goals and three assists to get the Crimson Knights to their first ever state championship on the ice. The #10 seed won the Shore Conference Tournament’s Dowd Cup and had an earlier win against Middletown South in the regular season by a 5-2 margin. After Gavin Gulash scored the opening goal of the game, Wall responded with two goals late in the first period to take a 2-1 lead. The Eagles got within 3-2, before a late goal from Tarantino made it 4-2 Wall at the end of two periods. Larry Hooper and Gulash traded early goals in the third period before Haviland put the game away with a lethal shot that got stuck in the net followed by an empty netter. Watch the highlights and post-game reaction from a great Shore Conference battle on the state playoff stage:
Glen Rock 4 Middletown North 1
Jake Kinney delivered a hat trick and assisted on the other goal as the top seed advances to the state championship and ends the magical run of the 13th seeded Lions. Brad Heuer was the lone goal scorer for Middletown North as he tied the game at one in the first period, but Glen Rock delivered two goals in the final 1:08 of the first period which proved to be the critical juncture of the game. Kinney added a power play goal early in the second period and Middletown North never threatened again. Watch the top seed’s win and Wall’s opponent on Monday night in the Public B state finals:
Public B State Championship
Monday, Mennen Arena – Morristown
(10) Wall vs. (1) Glen Rock, 7:30 pm
Our sponsors are the reason we can make the road trip to cover the biggest games of the year. Thanks to Beacon Awards and Angela Alessi/Weichert Realtors for sponsoring our Middletown North and South coverage. We’ll have more Lions and Eagles highlights this spring!