Madison downs KJS United to advance to Halvorsen Cup final: Recap and 3 stars

All season long, Madison has worked to establish itself as the top team in the Halvorsen Division.

Now, it finds itself one win away from officially cementing that honor.

Thanks to a two-goal performance from Tyler Shannon and three assists from Jacoby Erickson and Michael Scheier, top-seed Madison, No. 5 in the Morris-Sussex Hockey Report Top 5, rolled to a 6-0 win over fourth-seed Kinnelon-Jefferson-Sparta in the semifinals of the 14th Halvorsen Cup at Mennen Arena.

With the win, Madison booked a spot in Thursday night's Halvorsen Cup final, where it will take on third-seed Roxbury, with face-off set for 6:15 p.m. at Mennen Arena. Roxbury was slated to play second-seed Mendham in the other semifinal, however Mendham dropped out of the tournament on Monday afternoon due to COVID-19 protocols, and thus, Roxbury advanced.

Madison established the tempo right from the very beginning of the game, as it controlled possession in the offensive zone and allowed very little opportunity for KJS United to get its game going. While KJS goaltender Brett Lewis did all he could to keep his team in it early, Madison got on the board as Luke Wirth poked home a rebound late in the period to give the Dodgers the lead going into the intermission.

The second period is where Madison really broke this game open, however. It doubled its lead when Jacoby Erickson entered the zone, made a move around his defender to create space at the left circle, and fed Johnny Hamwee in the slot who fired one into the back of the net with 9:47 to go.

Erickson then set up Shannon for the first of his two goals, as he made a pass from behind the net to the sophomore in the slot, who made it 3-0 on the power play. Matt Gero's shot from the point got through a screen with two minutes to go, extending the advantage to four.

It likely would have been more lopsided if not for the play of KJS senior Brett Lewis, who finished the night with 48 saves on 54 shots, as Madison held a 54-14 shot advantage.

Shannon added his second with 9:51 to go in the third, before freshman Kyle Piechnik scored the first goal of his varsity career with 22 seconds to go. Keaton Tom stopped all 14 shots which came his way to secure his fourth shutout of the season.

The win improved Madison to 11-2 overall, after finishing the Halvorsen Division regular season with a perfect 8-0 record. It will face a Roxbury team in the final which it has already beaten twice, by scores of 6-0 and 5-2. Madison will be going for its second-ever Halvorsen Cup title, after last winning it in 2018 (it won the Mennen Cup in 2019).

THREE STARS

First star: Tyler Shannon, Madison- 2 goals

Second star: Michael Scheier, Madison- 3 assists

Third star: Jacoby Erickson, Madison- 3 assists

SCORING SUMMARY

First period

MAD -- Luke Wirth (Michael Scheier, Johnny Hamwee) 4:51

Second period

MAD -- Johnny Hamwee (Jacoby Erickson, Michael Scheier) 9:47

MAD -- Tyler Shannon (Jacoby Erickson) 5:46 PPG

MAD -- Matt Gero (Jacoby Erickson) 2:00

Third period

MAD -- Tyler Shannon (Nick Ferranti, Luke Wirth) 9:51

MAD -- Kyle Piechnik (Michael Scheier) 0:22

Shots on goal: Madison 54, KJS 14.

Saves: Brett Lewis (KJS) 48, Keaton Tom (Madison) 14