BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer
While Brick Township’s hockey team won its NJSIAA tournament opener in a dramatic shootout over Montclair last week, Brick Memorial could only boil over the fact that it was denied an opportunity to compete.
The Mustangs had petitioned the state association for one of its at-large bids to the 40-team field based on strength of schedule, but was refused. Brick Memorial, which had practiced for a week while awaiting a decision from the state, packed away its equipment in an 8-13-2 season.
“The guys were shocked at first and then disappointed when it sunk in,” said coach George Kiernan, whose team had reached the NJSIAA Public School finals two years ago but missed qualifying the past two seasons.
“The system in the state is a joke,” said Kiernan. “To not be among the top 40 teams [invited], based on the teams we play, is a joke. The biggest problem is that for the people who seed teams, there is no one in that group from South Jersey so no one realizes what we’re doing.
“With the tough division we play in [New Jersey Interscholastic Hockey Southern Red], six of our seven teams should [automatically] qualify,” said Kiernan, whose team lost in the opening round of the Handchen Cup, 8-2, to St. Augustine Prep.
Kiernan pointed to an 11-2 victory over Nutley, while Westfield had beaten Nutley by 3-2 and 2-1 scores and qualified for the states. The two ties came against Brick Township, which automatically qualified because it plays in the Gordon Division, and Monsignor Donovan, which qualified with 14 victories.
“They say we didn’t have quality wins but we beat the teams we expected to beat and lost only one game to a team with a losing record — Montgomery —
when we were missing our top three scorers [away with a club team],” said Kiernan. “I figure it’s either go into the Gordon Division or get a winning record [to qualify] with a cupcake schedule. This sends a message across the state that it’s better not to play quality opponents.
“This also happened last year when we just missed [a .500 record at the cutoff] and we beat South Brunswick, which was the No. 7 seed, and Middletown North, which was No. 16,” said Kiernan.
Had the team gotten in, Kiernan feels it could have advanced.
“Absolutely,” he said. “Our first line was one of the best in the state, and when [goalie Justin] Ferguson is on, we can steal a game. And Brett Eker had really come on for us lately.”
The front line had over 100 points among them — Matt Miller with 18 goals and 23 assists, Matt Baker with 19 goals and 20 assists and Bill Giersbach with 20 goals and 19 assists.
And Baker spent considerable time on defense, where Brick Memorial was depleted midway through the season with injuries to Frank Ryan and Tom Brow, while a few other players quit.
“Baker was unbelievable. He did anything you asked of him,” said Kiernan.
“If you put him on defense, he was one of the best we had out there, and if you put him at forward, he was one of the best we had.”
“We didn’t have much depth and our scoring came from three guys,” said Kiernan. Unfortunately, all three top scorers are among a small handful of graduating seniors.
“We battled tooth and nail, and the kids improved.”
Sean Chernosky started the season on defense but contributed at forward when he was moved there, said Kiernan. Anthony Santangelo also excelled at forward.