BIG MAC: Princeton High boys’ hockey player Brendon -McCormick controls the puck in a game last season. Junior forward -McCormick  figures to be a go-to scorer for PHS this winter. The Little Tigers start their 2015-16 campaign by facing Nottingham on December 3 at Mercer County Park. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

While the Princeton High boys’ hockey team has suffered some heavy graduation losses, saying goodbye to eight seniors from last year, the formula for success remains the same.

“We can be a team that wins 2-1, 3-2 type of games; we don’t want to be getting into 7-6 games, that is not going to be our bread and butter, that is never Princeton’s style,” said PHS head coach Terence Miller, who guided the Little Tigers to a 10-10-2 record as they advanced to the semifinals of the Mercer County Tournament and made the state Public B tourney.

“We are not a team that goes and blows people out but we can be tough in big games. On any given night, we can go and tangle with the top teams, that is who we are.”

PHS features a tough defense, starting with a pair of battle-tested junior defensemen in Tooker Callaway and Eamonn McDonald.

“They are really experienced,” said Miller of Callaway and McDonald, who have been starters since their freshman campaign.

“Tooker can just be a rock back there for us; he looked really good the other night in our scrimmage. He has been doing a lot of off-ice stuff, he has been training really hard. Eamonn is savvy, he can get the job done.”

Miller believes he has some others who can get the job defensively. “Max Garlock got a lot of valuable time on defense last year too as a freshman,” said Miller, whose team starts its 2015-16 season by facing Nottingham on December 3 at Mercer County Park.

“We have two freshmen who look like they will be solid blue-liners. Augustine Preziosi looks good and Colin Beatty is a pretty good defenseman.”

In goal, junior Sawyer Peck appears poised for a very good year. “Sawyer is further along athletically than he was last year, he has gotten bigger,” said Miller.

“We are going to look for him to get into the mode here. It is still early so every one is scratching the rust off. Sawyer has been playing a lot on the offseason so he should be ready.”

PHS is looking for big things from junior forward Brendon McCormick, whose older brothers Connor and Patrick were two of the best players in recent program history.

“Brendon is a terrific player,” asserted Miller. “He is a good leader. He just quietly goes about his business and handles it. He has been in the trenches; he came in and showed himself to be a really, really good player. He comes from a good lineage.”

In Miller’s view, there are a number of players who can help McCormick carry the scoring load.

“We do have a lot of guys that can score the puck,” said Miller, whose corps of forwards includes senior Nathan Drezner, senior Matt Cirillo, junior Anthony Trainor, junior Zach Bouchenoir, sophomore Justin Joyce, and sophomore Luke O’Shea along with a pair of freshmen, Nathan Podgalsky and freshman Robbie Trainor.

“Hopefully it will be a little more balanced scoring than last year. Some of these guys are younger and newer to the scene here.”

If the Little Tigers can get some offensive balance to go along with their stingy defense, they could turn some heads on the local hockey scene.

“Last year was more of an up and down type season, it was streaky,” said Miller, whose club lost seven of 10 games going from December into January and then produced a 4-0-1 run on the way to the county semifinals.

“This year hopefully we can get more of a consistent effort. We need to be more consistent defensively. Even if we are not scoring loads and loads of goals, we want to be sure that we are relinquishing as few goals as possible. That is really a big key.”