By Jimmy Allinder
Saint Joseph High School of Metuchen has reigned supreme ever since the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) began league play in ice hockey five years ago. This season is no exception since St. Joe’s owns a 13-3-3 record and has vanquished every GMC opponent during the regular season, often by double-digit margins.
However, Monroe Township High School has been a notable exception and managed to play St. Joe’s closer than other teams.
Monroe owns an 8-7-6 record and dropped its regular-season game with St. Joe’s by a 5-2 score. In that game, Monroe played with resolve and was competitive throughout as St. Joe’s surged to victory in the middle period by posting four goals.
In the second meeting with St. Joe’s Feb. 15 — this time in the GMC Tournament semifinals — Monroe was shut out by a 7-0 margin.
Monroe now set its sights on playing in the NJSIAA State Championships, with the first-round opponent and date to be determined.
Head coach Jerry Minter has been at the helm since the program was formed as a club team 10 years ago and became a full-fledged varsity team. Minter has always contended a team’s success tends to run in cycles depending on roster strength and quality of competition. For example, after achieving a program-best 12-9-1 record in 2010-11, Monroe suffered through three losing seasons before finishing 11-10-1 last year.
“The public school teams in our conference have become more competitive,” Minter said regarding how the quality of teams in the GMC has evolved. “Even sub-.500 teams like South Brunswick [High School] have been more competitive in their games.”
It was a 6-2 victory over the Vikings in the first round of the GMC Tournament that enabled Monroe, the fourth seed, to advance to its semifinal with St. Joe’s.
“Competition in the GMC is good,” Minter said. “Because of that, we’re better prepared against non-conference opponents, many of which have played ice hockey longer than our team.”
Junior forward Gerard Marreta leads with 24 goals and 16 assists, while senior forward Jason Gizze has registered 14 goals and a team-leading 18 assists.
Senior forward Nicholas Petrie has 10 goals and eight assists, sophomore forward Michael Benedetti has nine goals and seven assists, sophomore forward Kyle Lange has eight goals and 11 assists and sophomore forward Dominic Micalizzi has five goals and 16 assists.
Freshman Matthew Skobelev has been impressive in his varsity debut as the team’s leading defenseman with six goals and 14 assists. Senior goaltender Matthew Freitas has a .903 save percentage and a 3.43 goals-against average.
“For the second year in a row, we’ve managed to dig ourselves out of a significant hole,” Minter said. “We started 0-4 but have gone 8-3-6 since then. That’s a testament to the character of the players on our team.”