WEST ORANGE, NJ — The Seton Hall Prep ice hockey team completed its season with a 10-12-2 record following a wild game in the first round of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Non-Public state tournament last Wednesday, Feb. 23, at Richard J. Codey Arena in West Orange. The Pirates dropped a 6-5 decision to Morristown Beard School.
The Pirates opened the scoring when freshman Matt Smith scored his sixth goal of the season 2:27 into the first period on assists by senior Max Toomey and junior Marko Simcik. Morristown Beard tied the score with 5:41 left in the period. In the second period, the Crimson took a 2-1 lead with 10:20 left before the Pirates tied the score with 3:29 left on sophomore Hudson Rocheville’s second goal of the year, on assists by junior Hudson Gorski and sophomore Daniel Kelly. The fireworks in the third period started just :27 in, when Morristown Beard took a 3-2 lead. Just 1:35 later, freshman Dylan Gibbs notched his eighth goal of the season to tie the score at 3-3 on assists by senior Christian Robinson and junior Rocco Mendoza. Less than a minute later, the Pirates took a 4-3 lead when Kelly scored his ninth goal on assists by junior Owen Waivada and Gorski. Just over two minutes later, the Crimson tied the score at 4-4. A little over a minute later, Seton Hall took a 5-4 lead when Waivada scored his third goal on an assist by Gorski. Morristown Beard scored two goals in the final 4:52 for the victory.
The top goal scorers this season were sophomore Nicholas Schneider, 11; Kelly, nine; Gibbs, eight; Mendoza, seven; Smith, six; and junior Sean Murphy, six. The top assist players were Toomey, Mendoza and Gorski with 12 each; junior Jack Laferriere, nine; junior Will Underwood, eight; and Kelly, eight. Junior goalie Darren Keaveney posted the only Pirate shutout and had the lowest goals against average, at 2.26.
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