The Mennen Cup playoffs were in their twenty-fifth year and their sixth different format.  All three games on playoff Monday were competitive, and the latter two were down-to-the-wire affairs.  The first game featured Morristown-Beard against Chatham.  The Crimson got first period goals from Shaun Davis and Eric Greene to take a 2-0 lead.  Chatham dominated their bigger and deeper opponent in the second period and got a power play goal from Andrew Prendeville to make it 2-1. Chatham never made a serious challenge to tie it, however, and Ryan Egan and Eric Greene scored in the third period to make the final score 4-1.  The second game, between Pingry and Morris Knolls, was the marquee matchup.  Pingry would have had home-ice advantage in any other league, but all Mennen Cup playoff games are played at Mennen.  After Nick Caiella opened the scoring with yet another power play goal against Morris Knolls, the Golden Eagles fought back.  Billy Hussa's wrister marked the end of Houston's dominance over Knolls, and they made him look like any other goalie for the rest of the night.  Keith Keiper scored a breakaway goal late in the first period and defenseman Shane Brower gave Knolls its first two-goal lead with an individual effort midway through the second period.  Dan Armstrong singlehandedly brought his team back, scoring two goals in under two minutes to make the game 3-3.  Armstrong scored on a power play slap shot and a breakaway, the latter coming with 0:34 remaining in the second period.  The third period was, in a word, memorable.  Knolls and Pingry received separate penalties early in the third period, and the Golden Eagles thrived in the resulting four on four.  Brower fired home a rebound off the post and Hussa scored on his own rebound to give Knolls a 5-3 lead at the 5:08 mark.  The game went into its final minutes, and Pingry pulled itself off the floor with another two-goal comeback.  Dave Lawrence scored from the point at 11:25 to set up more heroics from Armstrong.  Austin Saypol, shadowed and shut down all night by Knolls' Joe DeLuca and Brian Hodes, set up Armstrong, who put in his own rebound with 1:59 remaining to dramatically tie the game.  Houston stopped Keiper in the final minute and Tim Hodes made two saves in the final twenty seconds to send the game to overtime.  Overtime brought a quick conclusion to a classic contest.  After over a minute of end to end action, Hussa made another of his patented dominant solo runs.  Once in the offensive zone, he flipped the puck towards the net.  It got through the Pingry defense and to Keith Keiper down low.  Keiper faked to his backhand and slid home the game-winner while falling to the ice.  Knolls celebrated its first semifinal appearance since its Mennen Cup final appearance of 1996.  The third game, between Randolph and Mendham, couldn't match the second game, but it came close.   The first period was reminiscent of the second game, making for an amazing three hours of offensive hockey.  Mendham took a 2-0 lead in the first 7:28 on goals from Chris Murdoch and Rob Loderstedt.  Randolph then scored three goals in 4:20 to take a 3-2 lead.  Cole Hufnagel, Cory Davis, and Rob Brougham all struck for the Rams.  Just twenty-three seconds later, Loderstedt tied the game once again.  3-3 was the score after the first and the game calmed down a bit in the final two periods.  Cole Hufnagel deflected a point shot through Victoria Elkins' pads at the 3:27 mark of the second period and Randolph had the lead for good.  Rob Brougham scored his second goal on a rebound with 3:27 remaining in the period.  In the mean time, Brett Reilly and the Randolph penalty killers stopped five Mendham power plays.  Reilly made sixteen stops in the period, thirty for the game.  Ryan Hastings scored early in the third period for Mendham, but Randolph dominated the period and skated off with a 5-4 win for its third consecutive semifinal appearance and fourth in five years.
     The semifinals lacked the drama and tension of Monday's games altogether.  Delbarton exploded in the second period with five goals to garner its third win of the year over the Rams, 7-1.  Chester Patterson scored the only goal of the first period and Reynold Fauci scored early in the second, but Delbarton didn't break it open until later in the second period.  Delbarton got a break when Randolph put one past its own goalie at the 9:45 mark, and took advantage with three more goals in the period.  Patterson scored the final two to complete his hat trick.  Cole Hufnagel scored for the Rams in the third period, and Chris Ryan added Delbarton's final tally for the 7-1 win.  Shots for the game were 40-13.  Morris Knolls lacked its trademark offensive flow in the nightcap, and Morristown-Beard took advantage of the Golden Eagles' defensive weaknesses for a 5-1 win.  Wade Skinner got it rolling at the 12:00 mark of the first period and Eric Greene had a power play rebound to make it 2-0 after one period.  Greene again scored on a rebound in the second and Kris Kendall added a power play goal for a 4-0 lead.  Keith Keiper notched a power play goal for Knolls and thoughts of a comeback arose, but Beard clamped down on defense and Wade Skinner scored his second goal late to make the final margin 5-1.  The Crimson dominated the whole way, outshooting Knolls 38-16.
     So Delbarton and Morristown-Beard continued their long Mennen Cup playoff rivalry in the final yet again.  The Green Wave had been disappointed in their previous two efforts against the Crimson, wins of 3-1 and 2-0.  Beard, on the other hand, was hopeful that they could continue the strong defense and finally get its offense rolling against Delbarton.  The Green Wave served early notice in the final that this game was going to go their way.  Chester Patterson dug a puck out of the right corner and foun an open Chas McLaughlin in the slot.  The sophomore backer converted the pas with a one-timer to the left post.  Despite playing excellent hockey and dominating the period, Delbarton could not score again until the final minute of the period.  Chip Campbell, who had assisted on the first goal, found a loose puck in the slot and buried it past Crimson netminder Jeremy Fallick with the help of a deflection in front.  Jeff Tuthill and Patterson assisted on the goal, which came with 0:31 remaining in the period.  The crushing goal came soon after.  Reynold Fauci hit Joe Crotty with a breakaway pass at the Beard blue line.  Fallick saved Crotty's shot, but Chris Ryan followed up and easily fired in the rebound with 0:05 left on the clock.  With a 14-2 shot advantage, Delbarton had a 3-0 lead.  They made it 4-0 at the 3:14 mark on one of the state's top power plays.  Crotty got the goal by deflecting Fauci's point shot past Fallick.  Play evened up a bit more in the second period and Ross Cherry was forced to make six saves in the period for Delbarton as the Green Wave spent some time in the penalty box.  Their last-minute magic struck again to make it 5-0.  There was a face-off in the Morristown-Beard zone with just 0:05 remaining.  Matt LaPaglia won the draw back to Fauci, who fired a shot on net.  Both Crotty and Chris Ryan converged on the rebound and Crotty, in what seemed like slow motion, drew the puck away from Fallick and flipped it in at the buzzer.  The Green Wave cruised through the final period, giving up just one shot.  Senior Andy Rykowski notched his first career goal on the power play, with Bobby Walter and Gray Eklund assisting.  The clock wound down and Delbarton celebrated its fourteenth Mennen Cup.

The league did not fare very well in the state playoffs this year.  On the Saturday following the Mennen Cup, only three league teams remained, and they had collectively won just two games to get to that point.    Seven league teams qualified.  (25) Hanover Regional was the first team to go out, losing to (8) Hightstown 3-1 at IceLand.  Mennen Arena hosted three state games on February 28.  The games were delayed by ice problems and made for a very long day at the rink.  (18) Lakeland knocked off (15) Mt. Olive in the first game, 2-1, on a goal with just 0:57 left.  Mt. Olive had outshot the Lancers 30-22 in the game.  (10) Morris Knolls got a hat trick from Billy Hussa in the second game and took a 4-0 lead before coasting to a 5-2 win over (23) West Orange.  Chris Mulligan played in net after playing an excellent third period against Beard and made twenty-five saves.  In the late game, Ian McLoughlin had a first period natural hat trick and assisted on (35) West Morris' other two goals as the Highlanders held off (30) Madison for a 5-4 win.  On March 1, Rob Loderstedt took over the game, notching six points in (5) Mendham's 9-0 blowout of (28) Verona.  (8) Pingry beat (9) St. Joseph's (Metuchen) for the second time, again in a one-goal game as Andy Houston beat Falcon netminder Anthony DiLello.  This one went to overtime, with Pingry winning it 3-2 on an unlikely Steve Tosti goal.  Mendham was upset in the Public Sectional Round of 16, however, by (12) Paramus at Mennen.  Mike Williams was stellar in goal and the Spartans shut down Rob Loderstedt for a 2-1 win.  (2) Delbarton crushed (7) Notre Dame 6-0 in the day's second game, pulling away late in the second period and in the third.  Reynold Fauci had two goals and Ross Cherry stopped all eleven shots.  (8) Pingry would bow out in the Parochial Section Quarterfinals, losing 7-0 to eventual state champion (1) Hudson Catholic, 7-0.  Delbarton headed into its Parochial Section Semifinal with rival (3) Seton Hall Prep optimistic of its chances of finally winning that elusive state title that the team expected itself to win.  The Pony Pirates stunned the Green Wave 2-1, eliminating Delbarton from the state tournament for an unbelievable fourth straight year.  See State Tournament Recaps for the recap.  Hope to see everyone at the rink in December 2000.

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