LANDING A BLOW: Princeton Day School boys’ hockey player Coby Auslander races up the ice in recent action. Last Wednesday, sophomore forward Auslander contributed three goals and an assist to help second-seeded PDS roll to an 11-1 win over third-seeded Montclair Kimberley Academy in the state Prep semis. PDS, now 11-9-2 after a 3-0 win over the Portledge School (N.Y.) last Monday, plays at top-seeded Morristown-Beard in the title game on February 8. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

As it hosted Montclair Kimberley Academy in the state Prep semifinals last Wednesday, the Princeton Day School boys’ hockey team was primed to break out of a recent slump which had seen it lose five of its previous six games.

“It is always fun to play a playoff game with something on the line, the boys were excited,” said PDS sophomore forward Coby Auslander.

The Panthers used that excitement to fuel a quick start, scoring three unanswered goals in the first 8:05 of the contest.

“We set the tone and scored a couple of goals early; I thought the team played really well,” said Auslander, who tallied two of the goals in that opening sequence.

The Panthers kept playing well, rolling to an 11-1 win, advancing to a title game showdown at top-seeded Morristown-Beard on February 8.

The line of Auslander, junior Ryan Lisk, and sophomore Ty Eastman was all over the score sheet in the victory, with Auslander tallying three goals and an assist, Lisk contributing a goal and three assists, and Eastman chipping in three assists.

“Ryan and I have been playing with each other for six or seven years with the Tigers and Rockets so we know each other pretty well,” said Auslander.

“We move the puck pretty well. We are good friends so we know where we are going to be at all times. Ty is a great power forward who does a really good job. It just clicked well from the start.”

Progressing from his freshman campaign, Auslander has been clicking this winter.

“It is just getting more comfortable with the speed; club is a little different,” said Auslander.

“In high school, you have older guys so you are going to get hit more. It is all about the team, everybody clicking, skating fast, getting pucks to the net, and winning some hockey games.”

The Panthers needed the big win as they were still smarting from a 3-1 loss to Lawrenceville on January 26 and a 6-5 setback to LaSalle (Pa.) on January 18 which saw them squander a 5-3 third period lead.

“It was definitely tough losing to Lawrenceville; a lot of people were disappointed about it,” said Auslander.

“We lost a hard one to LaSalle. Your confidence goes down after that but winning this one and getting some guys on the score sheet is always good heading into the finals.”

PDS head coach Scott Bertoli saw the victory over MKA as a confidence builder.

“We didn’t know much about MKA so my mindset going in was just concern ourselves with playing a good game and not
worrying about the scoreboard,” said Bertoli. “I thought for the most part we did that.”

The Panthers also displayed some poise in the victory, keeping their heads when things got rough as the game turned into a rout.

“It is tough when you are controlling the puck and having so much zone time; you know they are going to get physical because they are going to get angry,” said Bertoli.

“You have to manage your emotions but still continue to play and protect yourself. I give MKA credit, they played hard, they were physical. For the longest time it was a 3-0 game, probably for 15-16 minutes and then we stretched it out a little bit.”

Bertoli credited the line of Auslander, Lisk, and Eastman with helping PDS take control of the contest.

“I thought they did well, they have kind of gone quiet for a couple weeks now,” said Bertoli.

“Before they kind of carried the team as far as offensive production in December and early January. We needed to score some goals and feel good about ourselves.”

In reflecting on a season which saw PDS improve to 11-9-2 after a 3-0 win over the Portledge School (N.Y.) last Monday, Bertoli acknowledged that offensive production has been an issue at times.

“I thought we would defend well this year and I knew we would get outstanding goaltending,” said Bertoli.

“It was our secondary scoring and scoring in big games against good teams that has been our Achilles heel. If you look at some of these big games, the Lawrenceville game, the Hill game, those are good teams. You can’t score one goal and win many hockey games.”

Having lost 3-0 to Mo-Beard in last season’s Prep title game, Bertoli knows that goals aren’t going to come easy against the Crimson.

“They are well coached, bottom line, I don’t care who their personnel are, they are going to be well coached,” said Bertoli.

“It is a chess match every year when we play them and more often than not, it is in this final. I enjoy the challenge of playing against Randy’s (Velischek) teams because they are very disciplined, there is a ton of structure to their game. They are sound defensively, you are not going to get a ton of odd-man rushes. It is going to be a lot of in-zone time where our kids have to be willing to go to the hard areas and score the ugly goals, get traffic to the net and then defend well. I fully expect it to be a really, really good hockey game and our kids are going to be challenged.”

Auslander and his teammates, for their part, are ready for the challenge.

“We were upset with the loss in front of our crowd and everything,” said Auslander, reflecting on the 2016 title contest.

“I think we are going to be eager to play next Wednesday and it should be a very good battle.”