MET North Semi Finals Set
Rockets, Suffolk, Long Island, Walpole, Central Penn, Renegades, Jr. Titans and Jr. Flyers Advance
March 10, 2010
by Phil Brand

The first round of the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League North Division playoffs have concluded and the winners of this initial round now move to the semi finals where they will be seeded against either the first or second place finisher in their Division. The teams that finished in the number one and two slots in the regular season standings had a bye this past weekend.

The North Division semi finals are scheduled to begin on this coming weekend. The top four teams out of next weekend will join the two MET South playoff winners, Atlanta and Jacksonville in pursuit of the Keegan Cup. This competition is scheduled to be held in West Chester, PA, March 19th through March 21st and determines the overall Metropolitan Junior Hockey League’s 2009-10 Champion. Additionally all six Keegan Cup finalists automatically advance to the USA Hockey’s National Championships held the last weekend in March in Marlborough, MA.

The semi final matchups are all a best two out of three games. The semi final series lineup is as follows:

New Jersey Rockets vs. Suffolk Hockey
Long Island Royals vs. Walpole Express
New Jersey Renegades vs. Central Penn Panthers
Philadelphia Jr. Flyers vs. Jr. Titans

Dowd Division

The first place Central Penn Panthers (34-6-1)-69 points and the second place Junior Titans (25-12-4)-54 points received first round byes. Overviews of the first round playoff action follows:

Series 1: Washington Little Capitals (6) vs. Philadelphia Little Flyers (4) - The fourth seeded Little Flyers dispatched the Little Capitals and moved ahead in the playoffs.

Game 1-Washington Little Capitals-3, Philadelphia Little Flyers-5: Matt Sorando scored two goals for Washington in a losing effort. Brent Lafayette got the other Washington goal. Tanner Jones gave up five goals on 51 shots. His counterpart in goal for Philadelphia Stephen Kelly, made 22 saves on 25 shots. The Little Flyers got a three point night from Trevor Richmond including two goals. Chris Brennan, Erik Heritage and Janko Mamrillo added single tallies in the win.
Game 2- Philadelphia Little Flyers-, Washington Little Capitals-: The Philadelphia Flyer’s advanced with a second win over Washington however game data is not available at this time.

Series 2: Philadelphia Junior Flyers (5) versus New Jersey Renegades (3) - The Renegades ousted the Junior Flyers by winning two straight games. The Junior Flyers didn’t roll over as they hung tough before being eliminated in game two in over time.

Game 1 Philadelphia Junior Flyers-5, New Jersey Renegades-7: The Renegades took the first game in a high scoring game as the teams combined to place 107 shots on goal. All 12 goals in the game came while the teams were at equal strength. Jacob Rash handled the goal keeping chores for New Jersey stopping 40 of 45 shots and picking up the win. Steven Drizis led the offense with two goals and an assist for the Renegades. Roman Andrejev, (1g-2a) also had a three point performance. Philipp Allmaier and Tyler George shared goal tending duties for Philadelphia. All five Junior Flyers’ goals were scored by different players. Kyle Drury (1g-1a) led scoring for Philadelphia.

Game 2-New Jersey Renegades-5, Philadelphia Junior Flyers-4: The New Jersey Renegades came back from a 3-2 second period deficit to tie the Junior Flyers in period three and take an overtime win on a goal by Christopher Tommins. John Craig got the helper on the game winner. Pat Jaeger led the Renegades with two goals in regulation time as Kevin Carter and Matt Eitzen scored single markers in the win. Jacob Rash was the winning goaltender for the second straight game. Philipp Allmaier took the loss as he stopped 48 of 53 shots. Drew Zucker and Tyler Moll had a pair of goals for Philadelphia in the loss.

Francis Division:

Suffolk Hockey (32-7-2)-66 points and the second place Walpole Express (28-10-3)-59 points received first round byes.

Series 3: Hartford Junior Wolfpack (5) versus New Jersey Rockets (4) - The Rockets upended Hartford and will advance to the semi finals.

Game 1-Hartford Junior Wolfpack-0, New Jersey Rockets-4: Carlo Di Piazza scored the only goal that Rockets’ goal tender Dylan Troiano would need in the first period as Troiano shutout Hartford in game one of the series. Troiano handled all 36 shots launched by the Junior Wolfpack. Jacob Wint went most of the way in goal for Hartford. He allowed all four New Jersey goals. Forwards Robert Darrar and Alex Rojas also contributed single goals as did Mathew Gervasi who scored a third period goal on a penalty shot.

Game 2-New Jersey Rockets-, Hartford Junior Wolfpack-: The Rockets advanced with a win over Hartford however game data is not available at this time.

Series 4: Northern Cyclones (6) versus Long Island Royals (3)-The Long island Royals used a ferocious offensive attack to score nine times in game two after taking the opening game 4-1 to sweep the series.

Game 1-Northern Cyclones-1, Long Island Royals-4: The Northern Cyclones were out played by the Royals however a strong but losing effort in goal by Ed Zdolshek kept the score closer than it might have been. The Cyclones’ goalie was assaulted with 61 shots and stopped all but four of them. Meanwhile Brett Roman allowed just one goal on 25 shots to pick up the win. Four players scored for the Royals. Alex Kossowsky got the first goal of the game in the second period at 8:49. Spiros Markopoulos followed less than four minutes later with another second period marker and William Pascal and Adam Montgomery added third period insurance goals to ensure the victory. James Amato had the only goal for the Cyclones.

Game 2-Long Island Royals-9, Northern Cyclones-4: The Royals scored twice in the first period, added three in the second period and upped their production to four goals in the final period as they eliminated the Cyclones with two straight wins in the series. James Amato (2g-1a) led the Cyclones with a three point night while Vincent Monfredo with a hat trick and Gregory Cartright with a pair of goals paced the Royals in scoring. Bret Roman in goal for the Royals saw his team break open a close game in the third period to pull away and insure his victory in net. Justin Lavertue made 37 saves on 46 shots in the loss.