MJHL’s Keegan Cup Finals Set
Suffolk, Long Island, Central Penn and Jr. Titans join Atlanta and Jacksonville
March 15, 2010
by Phil Brand

The Keegan Cup finals are set and MET North semi final winners Suffolk Hockey, Long Island Royals Central Penn Panthers and the Junior Titans will join the MET South division winners Atlanta and Jacksonville playoff to play for the Keegan Cup. The 2009-10 Metropolitan Junior Hockey League Champion will be crowned in action in West Chester, PA starting on March 19th and ending on the 21st. Additionally, all six Keegan Cup finalists automatically advance to the USA Hockey’s National Championships held the last weekend in March in Marlborough, MA. All four Met North semi final series were closed out in two games.

Two of the notable individual performance in the semi finals included goal tender Ryan Cummings of Suffolk Hockey who chalked up two wins, allowing just two goals in one win and posting the only shutout of the semi finals in his other appearance. Central Penn Panthers’ defenseman Cody Bentzel had a big six point weekend with a goal and two assists in one game followed recording three helpers in game two of the Panthers’ series sweep.

Synopsis of Semi Final Matches

Francis Division:

Series 1: New Jersey Rockets (4) vs. Suffolk Hockey (1): Suffolk skates into Keegan Cup ousting the Rockets in two games

Game 1- New Jersey Rockets-0, Suffolk Hockey-6: Suffolk Hockey continued the torrid scoring pace that carried the club to first place in the Francs Division with six goals to blast the Rockets in game one. They took the lead cashing in on two first period power play opportunities and dominated play most of the evening. The Rockets mounted a spirited offense firing 37 shots on goal however goaltender Ryan Cummings turned aside all of their efforts in recording the win. Dylan Troiano took the loss in goal giving up six goals on 34 shots before being relieved late in the game by Kevin Dluhy. Michael O’Shaughnessy who played six games with the New York Bobcats of the Junior A level Atlantic Junior Hockey League this year scored twice, while Frank DiChiara (1-g-1a-2p) and Pijus Rulevicious (1g-1a) also contributed two points each. DiChiara was credited with the game winner. Other Suffolk Hockey scorers were Joe Quintana and Stephen Zurica.

Game 2- Suffolk Hockey-5, New Jersey Rockets –2: Suffolk Hockey moved on to the Keegan Cup round with their second straight win over the New Jersey Rockets 5-2 on Friday evening at the Prudential Center home of the Rockets. The Rockets took an early lead 1:17 into the first period when Mathew Gervasi recorded an even strength goal with helpers going to Carlo DiPiazzi and Nikolas Amendoa. Pijus Rulevicious, the MET’s leading goal scorer tied the score late in the period on the power play. High scoring defenseman Tommy Telesca got the only assist on the goal at 19:42 of the first period. Suffolk came out flying in period two with three unanswered goals to take a 4-1 lead into the final period. Philipp Svyatyna got an unassisted goal at 4:45 and Rulevicious struck again on another power play at 14:30. Svyatyna and Telesca assisted on this score. Brian Gillespie hammered home the fourth Suffolk goal off of a helper from Jerry Puglia at 16:39. The last goal for Suffolk came midway in the final stanza as Telesca and Svyatyna combined to set up Matthew Burdick with Suffolk’s third power play goal of the evening. Zachary Aston Reese brought the Rockets back within three with a late third period goal for New Jersey. Yuriy Sokayev and Robert Darrar got the assists. Ryan Cummings outdueled Dylan Troiano to pick up the win in goal.

Series 2: Long Island Royals (3) vs. Walpole Express (2): Long Island advances with two straight victories

Game 1 - Long Island Royals -3, Walpole Express-2: Long Island took the first game of the series on Friday evening against the higher seeded Express with a tense 3-2 win on Walpole’s home ice Iorio Arena. The Royals protected a 3-2 advantage at the end of the second period through a tightly third period as winning goaltender Michael Fay and the defensive effort of the Royals withstood heavy third period Walpole pressure. Fay stopped 30 of 32 shots on goal. Connor Lamberti got the first goal of the series for Long Island at 5:58 of the first period. Vincent Monfredo got the helper on the score. All of the rest of the scoring occurred in period two. Spiros Markopoulos and Vincent Monfredo got scores for the Royals while Augusta Chua and Jonathan Sheehan got the markers for Walpole. Brendon Hammatt kicked aide 25 of 28 shots in the net for Walpole.

Game 2- Walpole Express-2, Long Island Royals -6: The lower seeded Royals closed out their series against the Express in two games with a convincing Saturday evening win that qualified them for the Keegan Cup and the Junior National Championship series. The Royals put the game away in the third period with three straight goals after leading 3-1 going into the third period. Goaltender Brett Roman blocked 28 of 30 shots on goal to record the victory. Three Royals has three point games, William Pascalli, (2g-1a), Dakota Davidson (1g-2a), Gregory Cartwright (2g-1a). Michael Swartz had the other Long Island goal and Vincent Monfredo contributed offensively with two assists. Shamus Foster and Aaron Gonzales scored for Walpole as Brendon Hammatt stopped 34 of 40 shots in absorbing the loss in net for the Express.

Dowd Division:

Series 3 New Jersey Renegades (3) vs. Central Penn Panthers (1): Panthers win in two over Renegades

Game 1-New Jersey Renegades-4, Central Penn Panthers-11: After scoring a single goal in the first period the Central Penn Panthers scored four straight times in the second period to build a commanding 5-0 lead that they never relinquished. They added six more markers in the final period and breezed to an 11-4 win over the Renegades on home ice the Regency Sports Rink. Al Nejmeh, (1g-3a-4p) led the Panthers in scoring as three of his teammates scored two goals apiece. Jonathan Kashmere. Roman Bodrashev and Collin O’Neil scored twice as Nejmeh and four other Panthers got single goals. C. Philip Heinie went most of the way in goal for Central Penn stopping 26 of 28 shots. Zach Kanter gave up the other two goals in a brief stint in net. Jacob Ullom surrendered nine markers during his 26 minutes of play in net for the Renegades and absorbed the loss. Jacob Rash gave up the other two goals to the Panthers. Nick Biciocchi, Steven Drizis, Roman Adrejev and Matt Beattle were the goal scorers for New Jersey,

Game 2 Central Penn Panthers-5, New Jersey Renegades-(3): The New Jersey Renegades tested the highly regarded Panthers in a close game before faltering in the last period. The Renegades led 3-2 going into the third period and held the lead for more than half the final stanza. The Panthers finally tied the game on a shorthanded goal and then added two other markers within a minute of each other to break the stalemate and send the Panthers into the Keegan Cup finals. C. Philip Heinle stopped 43 of 46 Renegades’ shots to beat his opponent in goal, Jacob Ullom. The Renegades jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 9:03 of the first period as John Craig got his first of two goals on the night. Jeremy Heinle answered at 15:44 of the same period for the Panthers. Craig struck again early in period two pushing New Jersey up 2-1 but about nine minutes later Brandon Cerzullo of Central Penn, who also had two goals in the game, brought the Panthers even at 2-2. The Renegades forged ahead again as Matt Beattie came back for New Jersey to give them the 3-2 lead at the second intermission. The Renegades continued to deny the Panthers until Cerzullo’s second strike, a shorthanded goal at 11:52, tied the game. Next, Collin O’Neil got the game winner for the Panthers at 16:19 and less than a minute later at 17:11 Zachary Jensen sealed the win with the fifth Panther score. Cody Bentzel of Central Penn had three assists on the night including helpers on the tying and winning goals in the third period. Nick Turcotte and Christopher Tommins had two assists each for New Jersey in the loss.


Series 4 Philadelphia Little Flyers (4) vs. Junior Titans (2)-Junior Titans edge the Little Flyers in two games

Game 1 Philadelphia Little Flyers-2, Junior Titans-3: A power play goal two minutes into the second period turned out to be the game winner in a defensive matchup. Bob Deatrick III of the Jr. Titans got the game winner after the two teams scored two goals apiece in the opening period. Patrick Branagan and DJ Grogan scored for the Jr. Titans with John Rey and Brian Monteith answering for the Little Flyers to forge the first period tie. Dietrick III also had an assist for a two point night as did Justin Brown who assisted on both Little Flyers’ goals. Stephen Kelly took the loss in goal but played well stopping 49 of 52 shots launched by the Jr. Titans. Jeff Holbrook was equal to the task for the Jr. Titans settling down after the first period and shutting out the Little Flyers for the last two periods. He stopped 32 of 34 shots to gain the win.

Game 2 Junior Titans-5, Philadelphia Little Flyers -4: This was one of the most competitive series in the semi finals so it was fitting that it took overtime to settle this game. The Junior Titans got a goal at 10:10 of overtime from Anthony Valentino assisted by DJ Grogan and got past Philadelphia with their second one goal margin win over the Little Flyers. They swept the series in two games. The two teams battled for 70 plus minutes in this match. Philadelphia had a lead of 2-0 at the end of period one and led 3-2 at the second intermission before the Junior Titans tied the game in the third and won it in OT. Losing goaltender Steven Kelly was hammered with an amazing total of 75 shots on goal. Jeff Holbrook got the win between the pipes for the Junior Titans. He made 39 saves on 43 shots to pick up the victory. The regulation goals for the Junior Titans came from Timothy Higgins with two goals while Patrick Branagan and Kenny Yasenchock scored singles. DJ Grogan had three assists in the winning effort. Steve Falcone had two goals including a successful penalty shot for the Little Flyers while Jonathan Houk and Erik Heritage had a goal each.