A season to cherish for four New Jersey high school hockey teams

Prior to the 2017-18 season, Summit High School boys coach Keith Nixon wondered what his defense would look like. He said he knew he had strong goalies, but the team had graduated several defenders, and he felt the depth would be a question mark.

It turns out, he had nothing to worry about.

Summit went 24-2-2. In 28 games, the defense surrendered only 27 goals, and the Hill-toppers shut out the opposition in its final three games in the Public C tournament, including a 3-0 victory over Chatham in the championship game, becoming the first Public C champion.

“We don’t care how many shots you take, as long as the quality of shots is minimal,” Nixon said. “We focused on taking away the front of the net. We were very comfortable either of our goalies would stop anything they would see. Go ahead, take shots from the blue line, take shots from the perimeter, as long as there is no one for the rebound, screening the goalie or for putbacks, we’re fine.”

Summit beat Livingston, 3-1, and Cranford, 4-2, in the first two rounds of the Public C tournament, with senior Wilson Lees in goal. The team had rotated goalies throughout the season, and sophomore Nikita Pryymak started in goal the next game against West Morris.

Pryymak previously started against Westfield in the McInnis Cup semifinal, which Summit won, 3-0. Pryymak continued his shutout streak as Summit defeated West Morris in the quarterfinals, 5-0, as he made 20 saves. Summit then shut out last year’s Public B champion, Glen Rock, in the semifinals, 2-0, and Pryymak made 16 saves. Pryymak remained the starter against Chatham, making 32 saves for his fourth consecutive shutout, third straight shutout in the Public C tournament, and eighth shutout in the season.

The dominance displayed on defense and in goal gave Summit the confidence that if it scored, it would be in a good position. That would take some time, however, as the title game was scoreless for nearly 15½ minutes.

“I don’t think there was a lot of flow to the period. They had a penalty, we had a penalty. Both teams had some chances but nothing really quality. It was almost like we were feeling each other out,” Nixon said. “I thought both teams were playing things tight to the vest. They were just trying to acclimate to the surroundings. It’s so hot in there. You’re playing in front of more people than you have. It’s such a big building. Sometimes it can take a couple shifts to settle in.”

Senior Will Vitton finally broke the tie with 4:34 remaining in the period, poking in a rebound for his 13th goal of the season. Freshman Greg Spitznagel scored 2 minutes and 11 second later, giving Summit a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period that it would never yield.

“Johnny throwing that puck on net, the big rebound and Will being in the right spot to poke it in, that was a huge lift. I felt like everybody settled down on our bench like, ‘OK, we’re good. Let’s just play our game,’ “Nixon said. “Getting the first goal in a game like that is big. To come right back and score the second goal, which was a good effort by Dave Sharpe digging the puck out and Spitzy tucking it in. … The way Nikita was playing, I hadn’t seen the kid scored on the rest of the month.”

Spitznagel scored an empty-netter with 53 seconds remaining to seal the 3-0 victory. It was Summit’s first championship since 2012. The celebration ensued.

“I was able to really enjoy it and soak it in,” Nixon said. “Once Spitzy scored the empty netter, you soak it in. I went to the end of the bench and videoed the kids celebrating. It was an opportunity to enjoy it. Everyone knew the game was over. Let the clock run out and celebrate. It was very different ending to the game than it was in 2012 (a 2-1 victory over Tenafly). We knew we won the game this time.”

Public A: Hunterdon Central emerges

Hunterdon Central (16-7-3) won its first state championship when the Red Devils defeated Woodbridge Township, 5-1.

“This year our focus (before the season) was to focus on the last three weeks and not as much on the first three weeks,” Hunterdon Central coach Paul Cavanaugh said in an interview with NJ.com. “We were a team that always got out to a hot start, crashed, then came back and never really got going in the playoffs. This year we started 0-2-1, then we moved Alex Ahern from defense to forward. We ripped off six in a row, and we just played consistent hockey for the rest of the way.”

The Red Devils escaped the round of 16 for the first time, defeating Bayone, 3-0. Then they beat Monroe, 5-2, and Wayne Hills, 3-2, before taking on the co-op of Woodbridge, Colonia and Iselin Kennedy in the championship game. Those three schools became the first co-op program to play in the state championship game.

Senior Scott Schnell scored three goals (one in the first period and two in the third period) and sophomore Richard Stefanik tallied three assists. Other goal scorers were Chris Del Gaizo and Erik Szanto.

Public B: Northern Highlands on top

Although Randolph lost only once in the season and won the Mennen Division and Mennen Cup titles, it came up short for the program’s first championship since 2015. That feat was accomplished by second-seeded Northern Highlands (21-5-2), which defeated Randolph, 1-0, in the final.

Sophomore Cormac Cindrich scored the lone goal of the game at the 9:52 mark of the first period. He was assisted by fellow sophomore Aidan Connolly. The Highlanders held on to that slim margin of victory for the remainder of the game thanks in part to goalie John Werber, who made 19 saves.

The victory was the first state championship for Northern Highlands.

Non-Public: Delbarton three-peats

For the second season in a row, Delbarton took on Don Bosco Prep in the championship game. For the third season in a row, Delbarton (23-6-1) won the state championship, topping Don Bosco by a score of 4-2.

It was the program’s 13th championship, but according to head coach Bruce Shatel, it was not the easiest journey to this championship.

“This team was nothing less than resilient,” he said. “We suffered back-to-back losses in December, and both were shutouts. It’s been a couple of years since we have been shut out, not to mention consecutive shutouts. If my players got caught up in all the negativity written about them with social media, we should have collected the uniforms after the holidays. We suffered some key injuries early. We had a tough bout with the flu. More than 10 different players missed games due to illness. It was something that I have never seen before. With all that said, we got healthy the last three weeks of the season and managed to play our best hockey.”

The teams met three times prior in the season, with Don Bosco winning both the regular-season matchups but Delbarton taking home the Gordon Cup championship by ending Don Bosco’s perfect season.

Fifteen days later, the teams met for the Non-Public championship. Patrick Harrington got Delbarton on the board first, but Don Bosco would score the next two in the second period to take a 2-1 lead.

Jalen Kaplan scored an equalizer on a power play with 54.8 seconds remaining in the second period, and from there it was all Delbarton. The Green Wave got goals from Hunter Macy and Bayard Hall in the third period to clinch the victory.

Delbarton goalie Kenny Burgess made 33 saves in his final high school game.

“I like to think that our players are different,” Shatel said. “They understand what it means to play for their school. They understand tradition. They understand sacrifice. They play for each other. They know how to play desperate when there is a price on the game. They buy in, and they are tough to beat, especially when people say they are the underdog.

“I love coaching at Delbarton. I love the kids I coach. What they did the last three weeks of the season is something that I will always remember.”