Cougars Cannot Contain Morristown-Beard

MORRISTOWN — Morristown-Beard charged out of the gate during Saturday's Mennen Cup semifinal game against Chatham, and the Cougars were unable to stop the tide, falling 6-2 to a team they had beaten one month earlier in front of a quiet Chatham student section.

Morristown Beard came out of the opening faceoff with high focus and intensity. Without wasting any time, Crimson player Andrew Pascal capitalized on some Chatham confusion and banked a goal at 2:34 in the first period. At 6:40, Morristown-Beard's Eddie Osowski added another goal, which brought the Crimson lead to two.

Less than two minutes later, Chatham made an effort to get the puck away from the goal. It launched the puck down the ice, but it was stopped by Morristown-Beard's Anthony Curto, who connected with a point-blank goal at 7:58 of the first.

Goalie Andrew Mortensen and the Chatham defense were able to hold the Crimson off for the remainder of the period until, with seven seconds left, some confusion in front of the net resulted in a Matt Santucci goal to bring the Crimson lead to 4-0 going into the second period. Mortensen had 12 saves in the period.

To start the second period Chatham shifted the goaltending responsibilities to senior Charlie Boles.

"We wanted to make a change," said Head Coach Harvey Cohen. "It had nothing to do with his [Mortensen's] play, it had to do with the team play." Boles had 17 saves.

The team cut Morristown-Beard's lead to three when junior Alex Marsh launched a slap shot that was deflected off the Crimson goalie onto the stick of sophomore Alex Rauter. Rauter scored at 1:14 in the period.

Less than a minute later Chatham went on a power play following a Crimson slashing violation. But Chatham could not capitalize on the opportunity, and with thirty seconds left on the power play, Crimson player Dan DePoalo broke through to score a shorthanded goal to make the score 5-1.

The score remained that way going into the final period of play.

In the third period Chatham came out shooting, as it registered the same amount of shots in the final period as it did in the previous two periods combined. However, strong goaltending stopped Chatham from gaining any ground.

At 10:10, Chatham junior Christian Ortolani capitalized on a scuffle in front of Morristown Beard's goal cutting the lead to four. But Chatham, without scoring leader Danny Casey, was unable to score the rest of the night, and a goal by Morristown-Beard's Danny Shauger cemented the final score at 6-2.

Chatham will play Mt. Olive High School in a state tournament matchup Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Mennen Arena.