Hockey Season Hits A Fever Pitch
As NJIIHL Division Races Evolve

There was the concern from many of the state’s coaches about what was a condensed pre-season with fewer days for tryouts and a quick flip from the start of pre-season practice to the season opener.

Now, it's more than a month later and the 2024-2025 Jersey high school ice hockey season is hitting a fever pitch in terms of division races evolving as several teams maintain hopes of contending for a regular season title prior to the New Jersey Interscholastic Ice Hockey League playoff seeding meeting on Sunday, Feb. 2.

In the NJIIHL’s top public-school division, the McInnis, West Essex-Caldwell (7-4, 3-3) is off to a good start despite a couple of recent setbacks as coach Marc Gregory’s team is right there in terms of continuing to compete with the likes of Essex County rival Livingston (9-2-1, 7-1-1) and usual division stalwarts Governor Livingston-New Providence (6-4-1, 4-2) and Westfield (8-2, 7-2) in what should continue to be a very intriguing McInnis Division regular season title chase.

West Essex-Caldwell entered the New Year leading the NJIIHL in goals scored with 44 through its first nine games and the combination of Knights and Chiefs have a strong senior influence with key scorers such as forwards Patrick Devaney and Connor Maniscalco while veteran goal tender Evan Zieminski is stepping up with key saves.

Livingston, which cruised past Cranford, 6-1, Wednesday night (Jan. 8), absorbed a 7-2 loss to Westfield on Saturday, Jan. 4 before bouncing back nicely with two straight wins.

The Lancers also defeated Summit 3-1 Jan. 3 which followed a strong overall showing in a 1-0 setback to No. 9 ranked Pope John in the Ice Vault Classic on Dec. 30.

The setback to Westfield came after the Lancers had moved into nj.com’s statewide Top 20 after a torrid stretch when they had knocked off what were then state-ranked teams in St. Joe’s (Metuchen) and Ramapo in the Ice Vault Classic.

Livingston bounced back nicely from its loss to Westfield by skating past Essex County rival West Essex-Caldwell, 5-1, Monday night (Jan. 6) before also defeating Cranford on Wednesday.

Veteran coach Dave Conklin’s Lancers, who are ranked No. 15 in the latest nj.com statewide Top 20, did have an early-season 3-2 overtime win vs. No. 11 Westfield as the McInnis Division title contenders have split their two regular season meetings.

Jayden Rogers, who had a clutch overtime goal in Livingston's early-season win vs. Westfield, leads a very stingy Lancers defense which had allowed the fewest goals in the NJIIHL before the 7 goals allowed to Westfield in their most recent matchup on Jan. 4.

Livingston owns an important 3-1 win over No. 18 ranked GL-New Providence in the Dec. 6 season opener at Codey Arena. The two teams will meet in what will be a pivotal late-regular season contest, Monday, Jan. 27, at Warinanco Ice Center in Roselle.

Forwards Anthony Cassese, Daniel Furman, Dylan Gibbs and Egor Tarasyuk and goalie Brody Teitelbaum are among the other standouts for a Lancers team which is making it a nice rebound season after finishing 10-13 last winter, including just 3-9 in the McInnis Division.

Speaking of improved teams, Montclair Kimberley Academy (3-3-2, 3-2-2) is showing some considerable progress in the NJIIHL-Kelly Division after finishing 1-15-2 (1-11) last winter in the McInnis. And, despite early-season Kelly Division setbacks to both Verona (1-0) and a strong Frisch squad (3-2), the Cougars are giving every indication that they could be a factor in the Kelly Division title chase and subsequent Cup playoffs.

MKA wielded its consistent defensive effort in a narrow 2-1 setback to Gordon Conference member St. Peter's Prep on Wednesday (Jan. 8).

Defenseman Ibou Conteh helps lead a stingy unit along the blue line for MKA along with fellow seniors Henry McCann and Ayan Flowers, while sophomore Ethan Kilcullen has been a boost to the forward line and goalies Daniel Canizares and James Bronson both hold their own in front of the net for coach Tim Cook’s resurgent Cougars, who earned a 1-1 tie in their second contest of the season vs. Frisch on Tuesday, Jan. 7.

Verona-Glen Ridge (5-4-1, 3-3) had nice wins over Madison and Watchung Hills in the Essex Holiday Tournament and coach Ken Lilien’s team has a superb defenseman in James Benson, who is also a top scorer for the squad.

Looking at the SEC-McMullen Division, keep an eye on West Orange (7-4, 3-1) which rides the offensive spark of one of the NJIIHL’s more productive forwards, Dominic Locricchio, who entered recent action with 18 goals and 15 assists.

Reid Tenzer is another solid forward and RJ Scott is a top freshman to watch for coach Eddie Scafidi’s Mountaineers, while strength in goal comes from both Christian Anderton and Gabe Melendez.

State-ranked Seton Hall Prep (6-4, 3-1) continues to battle in the NJIIHL Gordon Conference National Division and coach Brian Monteverdi’s Pirates rally behind forwards John Renzullo, Andrew Tralongo and Ryan Murray, while Harrison Klass is a steady defenseman for SHP.

NOTES- Belleville is in a co-op with Bayonne and McNair Academic and that squad will battle Hoboken-Weehawken-Secaucus for the Battle of Hudson Cup when the two teams meet for a third time this season after splitting their first two meetings on Feb. 19…Among other players to watch in the NJIHL is Montclair defenseman Logan Brown, who had seven goals in the early going for the Mounties, and Christian Sherman of Nutley-Bloomfield-Columbia, who is another top forward to watch.

NJIHL Cup Dates:
Cup playoff seeding meeting: Feb. 2
Quarterfinals: by Feb. 5; semifinals: by Feb. 8
Finals, all at Codey Arena: Monday, Feb. 10: McMullen 5 p.m.; Kelly, 7:30 p.m.
(Also, note: Gordon semis must be completed by this date)
Wednesday, Feb. 12: McInnis, 5 p.m.; Gordon, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 13: Annis, 4 p.m.; Cohen, 6 p.m.; Librera, 8 p.m.

Follow Steve Tober on X @Chattermeister