Madison Hockey Rolls Into Public B Quarterfinals

MORRISTOWN – Junior forward Lou Cecala said that perhaps the Madison High School hockey team took 28th-seeded Bernards too lightly prior to the teams' NJSIAA Public B second-round game Wednesday afternoon.

It certainly appeared that way for about the first period and a half. But the Dodgers the game's final four goals to cruise to a 5-1 win over the Mountaineers at Mennen Arena.

Brett Perry (three goals) and Cecala accounted for all the scoring for Madison, who extended their unbeaten streak to eight games. Freshman goalie Grant Perry stopped 23 shots.

"We knew we came off a big win against Mahwah (in the first round of the tournament)," Cecala said. "We weren't cocky, but I think we were semi-overlooking them. It's the wrong mentality to have, and we know that."

But if Madison coach Dave Hansen is right, this game will be the final time that the Dodgers can afford to take an opponent lightly.

"If we play like we did today, we're going to be in big trouble against Chatham (in the next round) or West Morris (in the Haas Cup final)," Hansen said.

Madison, seeded 21st in the 32-team Public B bracket, is the lowest-ranked team remaining. The Dodgers were the first team to advance to the Public B quarterfinals, and await the winner of Thursday's Chatham-Lakeland game. The quarterfinal game will take place Sunday at 4 p.m. at Mennen.

Wednesday, the Dodgers (16-4-2) came out sluggish and sloppy against a Bernards team that dressed only nine skaters.

The Mountaineers (10-9-1) had advanced to the Round of 16 with a superb effort by goalie Tyler Leivonen, the tall freshman who stopped 45 shots in their first-round win over Glen Rock, the No. 5 seed.

"I could see why he stopped that many shots," said Madison assistant Joe Swanson. "He's enormous. Being a tall goalie is great, but it means it's tougher for him to go side to side, and that's what we told our kids."

Leivonen appeared to be up to the task in the first period, stopping the few good scoring chances Madison could put together.

But the Dodgers avoided the pitfall of falling behind early against a hot goaltender when Cecala's shot caromed off of Leivonen and into the net with 3:26 to play in the first.

"We knew (Leivonen) was good," Hansen said. "And we knew we had to crash the net. For the most part in the first period, we didn't do that."

The Dodgers came out hitting in the second period and, immediately after killing off a penalty three minutes in, barraged the Bernards goal with shot after shot after shot. But none were good enough to beat Leivonen.

"We started playing the body more than we did in the first," Hansen said. "We don't play well without playing the body. So when we started doing that, and we saw how many turnovers we could cause, they kept it up."

However, the Mountaineers managed to tie the game against the run of play. Phil Pace lifted a shot that bounced up off Grant Perry and behind him, gliding into the net with 9:07 to play.

But despite the tie score, Madison always seemed to be moments away from taking control of the game, and they did so 90 seconds after Pace's goal.

Defenseman Bobby Yutko blistered a perfect pass to Cecala on the blue line, who had gotten behind both Bernards defenders. Cecala made the most of the breakaway, using a perfect deke to backhand the puck past Leivonen to give Madison a 2-1 lead.

"Our coaches have been stressing shooting on breakaways, because we get so many chances and we haven't been able to finish," Cecala said. "He's told us, 'know what you're doing when you cross the blue line.' And I did, I just made a little forehand-backhand switch to get it past the goalie."

That seemed to spark the Dodgers, who had three more chances on the Bernards goal within 30 seconds of Cecala's goal.

Brett Perry doubled Madison's lead shortly after that, beating Leivonen with a high slapshot.

Madison's power play kept their lead at 3-1, stopping a pair of 30-second two-man advantages at the end of the second period and beginning of the third.

Madison has killed all six 5-on-3 power plays they have faced in their two playoff wins.

In the third period, Bernards - perhaps a bit fatigued due to their lack of depth - offered little resistance to Madison, who attempted 15 shots on goal.

"We can skate with any team," Swanson said. "We're a great third period team, because we never let up."

Perry scored his second goal falling down in front of the goal after a perfectly-placed pass from Cecala.

He completed the hat trick with a shorthanded goal with about six minutes to play. Erik Andersson intercepted a Bernards pass to start a 2-on-1 breakaway. He timed his pass perfectly to beat the one remaining Mountaineer defender, and Perry slotted the puck above the shoulder of the Bernards goalie.

Madison, which picked up its first two playoff wins in program history this week, has not lost a game since Jan. 31, a 7-5 loss to Governor Livingston.

"Nobody really thought we'd get this far," Cecala said.

Grant Perry has allowed just four goals in Madison's last five games, stopping 87 of the 92 shots he has faced.


PUBLIC B BRACKET
No. 1 Ramsey vs. No. 16 West Milford
No. 8 West Essex vs. No. 9 Passaic Valley
No. 4 Chatham vs. No. 13 Lakeland
No. 21 Madison 5, No. 28 Bernards 1
No. 3 Jefferson vs. No. 14 Wall
No. 6 Ramapo vs. No. 11 Summit
No. 2 Kinnelon vs. No. 15 Nutley
No. 7 Northern Highlands vs. No. 10 Hopewell Valley

The quarterfinals will be played either Saturday or Sunday at either Mennen Arena or South Mountain Arena in West Orange.

Semifinals are scheduled for March 9 and 10 at Mennen. The Public B final will be March 13 at the Prudential Center in Newark.


NEXT UP
Madison will take a very brief, very important detour from state tournament play to refocus on bringing home the program's first Haas Cup. The Dodgers will take on West Morris for the cup Friday at 5:45 p.m. at Mennen Arena.

Win or lose, the Dodgers will have less than 48 hours to think about that game before a possible showdown with neighborhood rival Chatham in the Public B quarterfinals.

"We've joked around that we've been focusing on hockey first, and school second this week," Cecala said. "This is probably the biggest weekend ever for hockey for anyone on this team."


SCORING SUMMARY
[28] Bernards  0  1  0  -  1
[21] Madison   1  2  2  -  5

FIRST PERIOD
MAD- Lou Cecala (from Brett Perry), 11:34

SECOND PERIOD
BERN- Phil Pace (from Conor Cassidy), 5:53
MAD- Cecala (from Bobby Yutko), 7:17
MAD- Perry (from Cecala), 9:36

THIRD PERIOD
MAD- Perry (from Cecala and Erik Andersson), 4:55
MAD- Perry (shorthanded, from Andersson), 9:11

SHOTS ON GOAL
[28] Bernards   8    9   7   -  24
[21] Madison  12  11  15  -  38