GLEN RIDGE – The fourth-seeded Verona/Glen Ridge varsity high school ice hockey team defeated top-seeded and previously-unbeaten Montclair, 3-2, in overtime on Feb. 18 at Clary Anderson Arena in Montclair to advance to the NJIHL-American Division McInnis Cup championship game.
Senior assistant captain Owen Gleeson scored his second goal of the game for the game-winner.
Montclair took a 1-0 lead on a short-handed goal by Remy Parker with 2:02 left in the first period.
Glen Ridge senior assistant captain Owen Gleeson tied it on a power-play goal on an assist by Glen Ridge senior captain Steven Wenzl with 1:20 left in the first period.
Wenzl scored a power-play goal with 5:04 left in the second period to give Verona/Glen Ridge a 2-1 lead.
Mike Gerne tied it 2-2 for Montclair with 1:45 remaining in the second period.
Gleeson converted a pass from Verona sophomore Sean DeCandia with 6:37 left in overtime.
Verona/Glen Ridge handed Montclair its first loss of the season. Montclair moved to a 17-1-3 record. Verona/Glen Ridge avenged both divisional losses to Montclair this season, 4-1 on Jan. 9 and 5-0 on Jan. 30.
Verona/Glen Ridge, which improved to a 13-8-4 record, will face second-seeded Montclair Kimberley Academy in the McInnis Cup championship game at Richard J. Codey Arena in West Orange on Saturday, Feb. 20, at 5:45 p.m.
MKA, which defeated third-seeded Livingston, 3-1, in the other semifinal to improve to 14-8-2, defeated Verona/Glen Ridge in both divisional meetings this season. MKA won the first meeting, 9-3, Dec. 16, and won the second meeting, 6-0, Jan. 6.
Verona/Glen Ridge is seeded 13th in the state Public B tournament and will host No. 20 seed Woodbridge in the first round on Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. at Codey Arena. The winner will face the winner between No. 4 seed Ramsey and No. 29 seed Jefferson in the second round on or by Feb. 26.
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