PHS Boys’ Hockey Falls in MCT Title Game, Looks to Build on Run in State Tournament
STICKING TOGETHER: Princeton High boys’ hockey player Ben Drezner, No. 19, celebrates with his teammates after a goal last Friday in the Mercer County Tournament title game against Hun. Junior forward Drezner tallied two goals and an assist in a losing cause as second-seeded PHS fell 9-4 to top-seeded Hun. The Little Tigers, who moved to 16-8-2 with the loss, are headed to the state Public B tournament where they are seeded 11th and were slated to play at sixth-seeded Middletown North on February 20 in a first-round contest. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)
By Bill Alden
When the Princeton High boys’ hockey team faced Hun in early December, the local rivals skated to a 3-3 tie.
Last Friday, when the foes met in the Mercer County Tournament championship game for the second straight year, it looked like they were headed to another nail-biter.
After the first period of the contest at a jam-packed Mercer County Skating Center, second-seeded PHS and top-seeded Hun were knotted in a 1-1 tie.
“We kept it simple,” said PHS head coach Tim Chase, reflecting on the first 15 minutes of the contest.
“We were dominating the play. They have eight shots down there for them on the scoresheet, but I don’t think they got eight shots in the first period on us. We were all over them.”
In the second period, however, Hun was all over PHS, outscoring the Little Tigers 4-1, including three unanswered goals to end the frame.
“We started trying to be fancy on the blue line and we started turning the puck over,” lamented Chase as he assessed the second period. “Then they grab a lead and we try to do more fancy things and it wasn’t working. It happens; you press and you try to do things you shouldn’t.”
While PHS showed some fight as it tallied two goals in the third period, it played shorthanded for much of the waning moments of the contest as Hun pulled away to a 9-4 triumph and its fifth straight county crown.
“We are not going to win many games with that many penalties,” said Chase, who got two goals from Ben Drezner in the loss with Aidan Trainor and Keith Goldberg scoring one apiece. “We were in the box too much.”
Chase was proud of how his players pulled out overtime wins in the quarters (4-3 over Robbinsville on February 7) and semis (5-4 over Notre Dame on February 13) to advance to the championship game.
“It was good, our kids came through in some pressure situations,” said Chase. “We put ourselves behind in games and against a team like Hun, you can’t do that.”
Playing Hun should help PHS as it heads into the state Public B tournament, where it is seeded 11th and is slated to play at sixth-seeded Middletown North in a first round contest on February 20.
“I think it is a good wakeup call. Hun plays a lot of good teams throughout the year, so they are used to a little faster pace,” said Chase.
“We have got to get there. We started out there, but we didn’t keep that intensity the whole game through. We stepped back and tried changing the game to more of a pond hockey game, and that doesn’t work.”