NOT STANDING PAT: Princeton High boys’ hockey star Patrick McCormick fires the puck in a game earlier this season. Last Wednesday, sophomore defenseman McCormick tallied an assist as he set up a Will Greenberg goal in PHS’s 1-0 win over Hamilton. The Little Tigers, now 11-4-2, face Notre Dame on February 8 at Mercer County Park before battling Hun on February 10 at the Ice Land Skating Center. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Patrick McCormick faced a major transition last winter in his freshman season with the Princeton High boys’ hockey team.

In addition to getting his first taste of varsity action, McCormick was shifted to defenseman from his customary position of forward.

As he adjusted to his new spot on the ice, McCormick had a safety net in senior star defenders Dean DiTosto and Griffin Peck.

“Last year, I had Dean and Griffin to rely on if I was having a bad game,” said McCormick. “They could always play over me.”

With DiTosto and Peck having graduated, McCormick has emerged as the iron man along the Little Tiger blue line.

“It is different; the team relies on me a lot more,” said McCormick. “I have to be on my best game every night. It is nice getting all this ice time. Although it is tiring, it is worth it. You feel a lot better when you get that win because you feel like you were more a part of it. I have been constantly improving; I like it a lot more.”

Last Wednesday against Hamilton, McCormick utilized his offensive background in the third period, assisting on the game’s lone goal as the Little Tigers edged the Hornets 1-0 to improve to 11-4-2.

“Before the faceoff, I said to Will [Greenberg] break up the ice and I am just going to throw it up to you,” recalled McCormick.

“So then Will just broke up the ice; I saw him break and I just tried to flick it up out of the zone. He beat the guy in the corner. The guy tried to intercept it and he just went hard to the net. It was a relief.”

McCormick acknowledged that the Little Tigers didn’t bring the right intensity into the Hamilton game, due to having beat the Hornets 7-2 in December.

“When you beat a team badly the first time, you can only go down from there,” said McCormick.

“I guess we went in thinking we had the win. It is not that we played poorly, we just couldn’t finish.”

PHS head coach Tim Campbell was disappointed with the way his team played in the win over Hamilton.

“We were just flat,” said Campbell. “We were just asleep; we came off a big win on Friday [a 3-2 win over Cranford]. I think we just thought we would coast through these guys which, as a coach, is the scariest mentality to see.”

Campbell did like the way his team performed along the blue line. “We were fine defensively,” said Campbell, whose team outshot the Hornets 38-8.

“We just didn’t create any scoring opportunities. Usually it is the other way around, our defense is a little porous. But tonight, they were a brick wall; we only gave up eight shots. It is scary when we don’t score because we can give up one and that is it.”

In Campbell’s view, McCormick is becoming a one-man brick wall for the Little Tigers.

“Patrick is a phenomenal skater,” said Campbell. “Skill-wise, there is not a better defenseman in the league. He is a good skater; he is smart. I kept thinking to myself he is a really smart defenseman. He gets opportunities to rush the puck and he takes advantage of those.”

With the Mercer County Tournament and the state public tourney both around the corner, Campbell is hoping that his club can maintain its recent penchant for peaking at the right time.

“In the past two or three years, we have been a February team, this is where we hit our stride,” said Campbell, whose squad faces Notre Dame on February 8 at Mercer County Park looking to avenge an earlier last-second 4-3 loss to the Fighting Irish and then battles Hun on February 10 at the Ice Land Skating Center.

“I am fine with that as long as we take care of business which we didn’t tonight. We have two big games in front of us. We owe Notre Dame so we will come out ready for that game without a doubt. We look forward to that game and hopefully we have learned lessons from tonight.”

McCormick, for his part, believes the Little Tigers are ready for a big stretch drive.

“I feel like we kind of overlooked this game because we were looking towards Notre Dame,” said McCormick.

“We feel like we are going to be ready for that game; it was heartbreaking. We have got to try and come back and prove something to them. We have a pretty good chance to make a run. We are strongest in the postseason. We usually have lulls midway through the year and we like to pick it up at the end.”