Wayne, NJ - Behind two goals from Garet Chumley, the Hitmen skated to a 6-1 victory over the South Shore Kings at home on Friday afternoon. Chumley's offensive output was also aided by multi-point games from Mike Muhs, Andrew Kurlandski, Nick Geraci and Jeremy Langlois, who all tallied 1 goal and 1 assist, Billy Lemen also added two assists in the winning effort. The victory also lengthened the Hitmen's lead in the southern division over the second place Kings to 14 points. Jon Morrow was stellar in the victory kicking out 24 out the Kings 25 shots, only to be beaten on an errant redirected goal off of Hitmen defenseman, Nick Jones', stick. The Friday afternoon tilt was rescheduled from a recent cancellation from the NE Jr Huskies tournament, and was just the first meeting of the season, for these southern division rivals.
"I do not think we were at our best today," commented coach Toby Harris. "We did not have a very crisp week at practice. We had boys out sick, and players a bit unfocused and it showed in the first, into the second period, but Jon Morrow really kept us in it. I was unhappy with the odd man rushes we gave up, the useless turnovers, and the undisciplined penalties, but I tip my hat to Jon for making some huge saves until we got back on track. We got a big goal from Chumley midway through the third, and that was quickly followed by a nice goal from Mike Muhs, and the team fed off of that to get over the hump." Harris went on to say, "you never like to see glaring mistakes this late in the season, but I was happy with how the boys battled through those mistakes, persevered, and gained two points."
The Hitmen will be back in action this weekend when the NE Jr Huskies visit the Ice Vault for a two game weekend set. The puck will drop at 5:15 pm on Saturday night followed closely by an 11:15 am face-off Sunday morning.