MAN POWER: Hun School boys’ hockey player Kyle Mandleur  controls the puck in a game last season. Last week, sophomore forward Mandleur tallied a goal and an assist to help Hun overcome a 2-0 first period deficit on the way to a 3-2 win over St. Joseph High (Metuchen). Hun, which fell 5-1 to Princeton Day School last Monday to move to 4-8, plays at Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) on January 11 before hosting Lawrenceville on January 16. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Last winter, Kyle Mandleur made an impact for the Hun School boys’ hockey team as a freshman by virtue of his imposing 6’3 frame and a powerful shot. 

Coming into his sophomore campaign, Mandleur was dedicated to becoming a more well-rounded player.

“I worked on skating over the summer, thinking I need to get to work as a sophomore,” said Mandleur.

“I was just working on everything over the summer, trying to get better as a player.”

Last week against St. Joseph High (Metuchen), Mandleur showed his progress as a player, tallying a goal and an assist to help Hun overcome an early 2-0 deficit and pull out a 3-2 win.

Even though Hun surrendered two unanswered goals in the 12 minutes of the contest, the Raiders weren’t fazed.

“Our captains (Blake Brown and Tanner Preston) are really good on the bench,” said Mandleur.

“They just got in our ear and started saying we are better than this team, we can play with them; we just turned around as a team.”

Mandleur helped spark the turnaround, assisting Brown on a power play goal early in the second to cut St.
Joseph’s lead in half.

“It is something we work on at practice where we see the seam and Blake made a good play to get to the net,” recalled Mandleur. “I just had to put it in the area and he buried it.”

Just over two minutes into the third period, Mandleur buried one himself ripping a one-timer into the top of the net to knot the game at 2-2.

“It was important to get that game tied, everyone started getting some energy and that is how we won the game,” said Mandleur.

The Raiders pulled out the win when Brown scored his second goal of the contest with 8:18 left in regulation.

“I think it was just believing in ourselves that we can go out there and play with any team and this is what it was,” said Mandleur. “We started getting some confidence.”

Hun head coach Ian McNally is confident that Mandleur can be a force for the Raiders.

“Mandleur has the tools to be a very dominant player, certainly around here,” said McNally.

“He is just on the cusp. He is big, strong, he can handle the puck, and he can shoot. I fully expect a goal and an assist out of him every game because he is good enough to do it. If he doesn’t get that, we are kind of disappointed.”

In McNally’s view, Mandleur gave a vivid display of his skills on his assists and goals.

“It was a very good power play look which is nice, we haven’t had a power play goal in a while,” said McNally.

“We said going into the third that if we get a chance, try to get it in and throw it high on the glove side and that is exactly what he did. He waited for the guy to slide. He is a pretty pure goal scorer.”

Senior stalwart Brown has been Hun’s most consistent goal scorer. “We were away at tournament and I said Blake you have been in on 18 of our 25 goals all year,” said McNally.

“Without him we are kind of toast. I wouldn’t call Blake a pure goal scorer but he certainly works hard and gets the goals any way he can basically. He is scoring at a higher rate than ever in terms of getting points and goals instead of secondary assists. Without Blake we wouldn’t have any of the four wins, he has been our catalyst for sure.”

Getting the victory over St. Joseph was imperative for Hun. “In all honesty, we had to win,” said McNally.

“We are halfway through the year and we have only beat Calvert Hall (Md.) and Academy of New Church (Pa.), which is great, but we needed a New Jersey win just so they could look each other in the eye and say we can win hockey games. That was a very necessary third period.”

With Hun moving to 4-8 after losing 5-1 to Princeton Day School last Monday, McNally is preaching patience as the team looks for a big finish.

“It is a slow process; we are trying to play like a Princeton University team right now and just stick to the game plan and now it is starting to pay off for us,” said McNally, whose team plays at Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) on January 11 before hosting Lawrenceville on January 16.

“We only talk about two or three things when we play the game. If we can do them perfectly, I think we are going to win a bunch.”

Mandleur, for his part, trusts the process. “We just have to focus on doing the small things,” said Mandleur. “Everyone has a role and if you do your role, we should be able to win hockey games.”