Saturday, January 2, 2009 — Talk about a game for the ages! The mighty Blue Knights of Denville-Montville took on their old nemesis Jefferson and skated away with a stunning 4-3 victory over the Falcons. This was the first victory over Jefferson in a long, long time.

Perhaps the most amazing stat was that the Blue Knights had a short bench of only ten skaters, and were without the services of Kathleen McNamara, Sophie Fischer, Matt Mezik, and Blair Barrows (all had previous hockey/sport commitments). But when you try to define what a “true team effort” looks like, all you need to do is describe this game. Jefferson, on the other hand, had a full bench of 3+ lines.

For the first 14 minutes of the opening period, it was a great back-and-forth affair as both squads traded seven shots on goal. And then with ten seconds remaining, Matt Sefcik took the puck at the offensive blue line and passed it to Johnny O’Dell in the corner. O’Dell stickhandled his way around one defender before putting a wrist shot on net. The shot was saved initially by the Jefferson goalie, but there was Brian Carey, who had parked himself in front of the net, to stuff the loose puck into the net! That happened with just 4.5 seconds remaining in the period.

In the second period, the Blue Knights took complete control as they outshot Jefferson 10-4. But don’t be misled because Josh Beron’s four saves in the second period for Denville were tough… and one in particular was simply awesome as he made a sweeping glove save to rob Jefferson of a sure goal.

With 7:22 remaining in the 2nd period, Matty Dreisbach did a great job of stopping a clearing attempt at the blue line. He controlled the puck and fired a slap shot on net. Again, the goalie made the initial save. And AGAIN, there was Brian Carey cruising around the net to stuff in his SECOND goal of the game!

100 seconds later, Johnny O’Dell won a face-off in the neutral zone and took control of the puck. He then raced into the Jefferson zone by splitting the defensemen. He then went in one-on-one with the Jefferson goalie, and O’Dell fired a laser wrist shot that beat the goalie to his glove side.

Then in a repeat of the end of the first period, the Blue Knights scored with just seconds remaining. O’Dell fought for a loose puck in the corner, and eventually passed the puck back to the point where Dreisbach released another of his patented slap shots. The goalie (again) made the save, but this time Matt Sefcik was there in front of the net to collect the third “garbage goal” for the Blue Knights.

Whoda thunk it???!!! Montville leading 4-0 after two periods… over Jefferson!!!

But there were still 15 minutes of hockey to play, and Jefferson wasn’t about to go down without a fight. With about four minutes gone in the 3rd period, Matt Dreisbach got called for a roughing penalty and was sent to the sin bin. Jefferson capitalized on their power play to ruin Josh Beron’s bid for a shutout.

Worse yet, the two-line Blue Knights roster was starting to tire with all the minutes they were logging on the ice.

50 seconds later, Jefferson scored their second goal of the game, and it was now a 4-2 contest. UH-OH!!!!

The Blue Knights calmed down and tightened up their defense, but with just 5:25 remaining Jefferson scored their third goal to cut the lead to just a single goal. Double UH-OH!!!!

With the ice tipping clearly in favor of Jefferson, the final minutes would be a hold-your-breath-affair, but the young Knights kept their composure, and Josh Beron came up with three amazing saves to keep hold of the lead. With one minute remaining, and their tanks on “empty,” the Blue Knights had to deal with an empty net as Jefferson pulled their goalie to add a sixth attacker. In the final 60 seconds, Jefferson unleashed three more shots on goal but Beron was up to the task. (Jefferson would outshoot the Blue Knights 12-2 in the final period, and 23-21 for the game.)

The clock couldn’t tick down fast enough for the Blue Knight fans, but eventually the buzzer did sound and the Denville-Montville players erupted in celebration. Matty Sefcik was heard to exclaim, “This is the best game… EVER!!!!”

Indeed, the Blue Knights should be VERY proud of their performance. And they have two weeks to enjoy it, since there is no game next weekend at Mennen.

A few post-game observations:

* Josh Beron had a great game in goal for the Knights. He jinxed himself, however, when just before the start of the 3rd period he said, “I want a shutout!” But he still looked pretty darn happy with the 4-3 victory!

* The defense was a “new look” for the squad. Dreisbach was paired with Bryan Swauger, and both played their best games of the season. Unfortunately for Bryan, his mother was sick and his father was working so both missed a great game. But trust us, Mr. and Mrs. Swauger, your son had a great game!

* The other pairing was Reed Pelliconi and Joseph Belcastro. And they were simply awesome together. Reed laid some big checks on the opponents (and we’ve come to expect that). But “little” Belcastro was a force to be reckoned with as well. In fact, he threw more body checks during the game than anyone else on the team. What a great game he had!

* Offensively, everyone contributed. The line of O’Dell-Sefcik-Carey accounted for all four goals, so there’s not much more to say here than “THANK YOU!” But don’t underestimate the efforts of the other line: Zangari-Kedzierski-Minervino. They were on the ice a lot against Jefferson’s best line, and they shut them down again and again. It was the perfect mixture of hustle and physical play.

* And now for the final word of the game: UNFORGETTABLE! This was indeed one “for the ages.” Congratulations, Blue Knights… you deserved this one!

Sunday, January 25 — After defeating Roxbury at every turn for the past three-plus years (including a big win at Madison Square Garden), the old adage that “on any given day, any team can beat any other team” was in full view as Montville was defeated by Roxbury, 2-1. To be sure, Roxbury deserves credit for being the hungrier team.

Montville went into the game with a record of 11-1-1, while Roxbury was 2-9-2.

Thanks to a short bench (only nine skaters), Montville had to ensure that every player put in 110% effort. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The post-game locker room provided clear evidence as a few players were exhausted and dripping with sweat, while others weren’t.

Roxbury scored first with just under two minutes remaining in the opening period. Their star Anthony Impagliazzo rifled a strong wrist shot past Kurt Bambach to take a 1-0 lead. More telling was that in the 1st period Roxbury outshot Montville 6-3; all three Montville shots came off the stick of a defenseman.

The second period was scoreless but Montville was able to put 11 shots on goal (seven coming from the point). Bambach turned away seven Roxbury shots.

In the 3rd period, with 9:11 remaining Montville finally got on the scoreboard. Roy Darrah brought the puck into the offensive zone before dishing off to T.J. Sefcik. His slap shot from the top of the right circle ricocheted off the chest of the Roxbury goalie. Sefcik streaked to the net to attempt a rebound shot, but was again thwarted by the goalie. However, the second rebound lay just outside the crease and Nick Yuliano was there to lift a backhander over the sprawling goalie’s glove. It was all tied up at 1-1.

Montville proceeded to take three consecutive penalties in the final 4:40. The Bantams had to kill off a 5-on-3 Roxbury advantage, and were able to do so. But with 27 seconds left in the game, another penalty was called, putting Montville down a man for the rest of the game.

Give Roxbury credit because Brendan Byles was able to target a perfect wrist shot through the five hole just fifteen seconds later to give Roxbury a power play goal and a huge win. With the loss, Montville drops into second place in the loss column behind Randolph, and one game ahead of Jefferson.

The final tally for shots on goal was equally close: Montville 21, Roxbury 20. Montville went 0-for-3 on the power play, and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.

A special call-out to Bryan Andalaft, Tommy Iverson and T.J. Sefcik, who logged a ton of minutes and left everything they had on the ice.

There is no game scheduled for next weekend; the next contest is Sunday, February 8th versus Denville.

Sunday, January 18 — The Bantams continued rolling through their schedule with another impressive win. This one was a shutout as Long Valley spent the regular season being outscored 13-0 at the hands of Montville. Kurt Bambach notched his third shutout of the season.

It was also a chippy game as both teams combined for a total of 13 penalties.

The first period remained competitive as Montville managed two goals on fourteen shots. Both tallies came off the stick of Tommy Iverson, who has enjoyed an amazing season thus far. The first goal came with 6:21 remaining, and the second goal came less than a minute later. On the flip side, the Montville defense, anchored by Bryan Andalaft and T.J. Sefcik, allowed just two shots to get near the net, which Bambach easily stopped.

The second period slowed down a bit, and neither team scored. Montville still threw seven shots on goal to Long Valley’s one.

In the third period, Montville picked up the scoring again. Three minutes into the 2nd period, Iverson banged home his third straight goal for a natural hat trick. That was followed three minutes later when Bryan Andalaft scored to put Montville comfortably ahead, 4-0.

Andalaft and Joseph Basile combined for the final two goals of the game. The most telling statistic was shots on goal: Montville outpaced Long Valley 46-4, as Montville allowed ZERO shots on goal in the third period. Wow!

With the win, Montville improved its record to 11-1-1.

Post-game notes:
* Kurt Bambach reduced his goals-against average to 1.31 for the season. Remarkable!
* The Bantam injury list continues to grow as Matt Cross (hip fracture), Trevor Jacobsen (sprained ankle) and Kevin Browne (concussion), joined Tyler Chin on the “walking wounded” list.

Saturday, January 17: The Blue Knights continued with their winning streak by beating Mt. Olive in a close 4-2 game. How close was it? For the first time all season, the Blue Knights battled to a scoreless first period. But the coaching staff was happy with the effort as the Knights outshot Mt. Olive 6-2 in the first stanza.

Just one minute into the second period, Matt Dreisbach put the first goal on the scoreboard. Dreisbach had taken control of the puck near the blue line. Matt Sefcik charged toward the net looking for either a pass or a possible rebound. With the Mt. Olive defense collapsing on Sefcik, Dreisbach took a slap shot that sailed through three defensemen, past Sefcik and the goalie and into the net. An unassisted goal for Dreisbach.

Five minutes later, Kathleen McNamara made a great pass cross-ice to the weak side to Armani Zangari, who skated the puck in along left sideboards. At the right moment, Zangari fired a hard cross-ice pass to Matt Sefcik in the low slot, who redirected the pass into the net for a two goal lead.

But Mt. Olive was not about to give up. Their sixth shot on goal brought the Marauders to within one as they found a way to beat Mike Minervino, who enjoyed his second straight strong effort in goal.

With just under three minutes left in the 2nd, Dresibach fired a slap shot towards the net, which Joseph Belcastro captured en route, and he took a shot on net. The Mt. Olive goalie made the initial save but Mike Kedzierski was in the right spot at the right time lifted the rebound into the top of the goal to regain a two-goal advantage.

Mt. Olive would once again cut the deficit to one when they scored less than a minute later. The 2nd period ended with the Blue Knights ahead 3-2 (and enjoying an 18-8 shots on goal advantage).

The third period was a great back-and-forth affair as both squads (with very few extra skaters on the bench) kept chugging along. You could tell they were getting tired, but neither squad was going to be the first to give up. After nearly twelve minutes of tight action, Matt Dreisbach took control of the game with a classic end-to-end rush. He skated through and around the entire Mt. Olive defense and finished the effort off with his second goal of the game.

The Blue Knights were again victorious in lifting their record to 10-3, with the two-goal win.

Post-Game Notes:
1. Reed Pelliconi was a force to be reckoned with as he played a real strong game at both ends of the ice.
2. Kathleen McNamara and Brian Carey teamed up with Matt Dreisbach to keep the Mt. Olive offense at bay. And in those few occasions when Mt. Olive tried to pick up the tying goal in the 3rd period, there was Mike Minervino to deny them each time.
3. Armani Zangari continues to be the hard-nosed grinder on the offensive side of the formula. No loose puck is safe with him around. The opposition has yet to figure out a way to keep Armani under wraps.
4. The coaches agreed that Mike Kedzierski and Matt Sefcik had their best skating games of the season. Matt Sefcik had to leave the game with six minutes remaining when he absorbed a hard check that sent him into the boards, where he banged his knee hard. But he promised to be back on the ice for the next game.
5. Joey Belcastro was back in the lineup and he made his presence felt throughout the game, thanks to his non-stop hustle. His experience at the travel level is definitely paying off!