Mendham Ice Hockey Regains Respect with Haas Cup Victory

The Mendham Ice Hockey team of 2018-2019 finished of their incredible season with a record of 22-4 and a season that will be remembered as one of Mendham’s most successful. The team finished off their conference season undefeated with a record of 10-0 with their final victory against Hanover-Park on Thursday, February 14th. Jake Marszalek opened up the scoring just a mere 22 seconds into the game, making Mendham’s intentions of winning the championship very clear. Barely 3 minutes later Jake again netted a goal, followed by yet another with 3:47 to go in the first period. The senior’s hat trick put Mendham in a strong position going into the rest of the game and gave crucial energy to the players. Marszalek was also awarded 3 assists in the game, bringing his point total to an impressive six. After taking a penalty late in the first period, the Mendham powerplay was successfully able to net another goal with just 90 seconds remaining in the period thanks to Freshman Liam Lloyd. As if that was not dominant enough, Junior captain Ryan Bruin notched one following that to put Mendham up 5-0 with a minute remaining in the first period. “Our kids came prepared,” Mendham Coach John Kovacs said when asked about Mendham’s uptempo start to the game, “we knew from the moment we walked into the locker room that there was a different air. We became completely focused and when we hit the ice, we saw a focus we haven’t seen all season and they were moving at a speed we haven’t seen all season.”

Going into the second period with such a substantial lead aided to goalie Connor Mcdonough’s level-headedness. “Playing with the lead, I knew that I didn’t need to be nervous, but I kept myself in the game and didn’t let up,” the exceptional freshman said. “We came out to a really fiery start and we didn’t take the game for granted. We kept playing hard. The shots were similar and the game was close, even though the score wasn’t.” Luckily Park was unable to connect in the second period as well, although both Ryan Bruin and Jake Marszalek were each able to score another time. The score after 32 minutes was 7-0.

Mendham could not maintain their perfection until the end, though. Following yet another Ryan Bruin Goal at 10:47 of the third period, Mendham took a penalty and went down on a penalty kill where Park’s Ryan Breen was able to beat McDonough of an assist from Michael Shauger.

Hanover Park coach Tom Levis said after the game, “You have to give credit to Mendham, number two is a dynamic player that just wouldn’t be stopped. We were having our team focus on trying to be more physical with him and we couldn’t catch him and he just had a game where he wouldn’t be denied. I think that we could’ve played better. We couldn’t get any rhythm and groove going. I’m kind of shocked that this was as big of a loss. It’s a stunning feeling.”