The schools are only a few miles apart, but they play in different divisions and different worlds.
Delbarton (14-2-4), a Morris Township parochial school that regularly sends hockey players to Division I college teams, is a perennial powerhouse among private schools in New Jersey, with five straight championships.
Morristown High School (13-5-3) has an up-and-coming public school team that played for a state hockey title last season for the first time.
It’s been at least a decade since they last faced each other, according to the MHS coaching staff. When another Morristown opponent couldn’t make it on Monday, the Green Wave agreed to fill in. Three periods later, Delbarton skated off the Mennen Arena ice with a 4-1 victory.
The prep school kept the Colonials’ sophomore goalie, Shane Brown, plenty busy, out-shooting Morristown 35-15. After two periods, Delbarton led 3-0 on goals by Alex Hagerty, Kevin Delaney and Peter Welch.
Cam Szary put Morristown on the scoreboard early in the third period thanks to nifty passes by his brother Jack Szary and Brian Begley.
But Delbarton’s Kevin Delaney answered with his second goal of the game to put the match out of reach. Still, it was a good tuneup for Morristown, which enters its first Mennen Cup playoffs against a scrappy Chatham team on Thursday, at 8:15 pm at Mennen Arena. This is year one in the Mennen Division for the Colonials, prior winners of the Halvorsen Cup.
Although Monday marked the first Morristown/Delbarton encounter in years, there is some familiarity between the two squads. Five MHS skaters have played on a traveling team coached by Bruce Shatel, the Delbarton coach, parents said.
