LIVING IT UP: Princeton High girls’ hockey player Olivia Corrodi controls the puck in a game this season. Junior forward and assistant captain Corrodi helped PHS enjoy a winning campaign this winter as it ended up with a 9-7-3 record. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Even though his Princeton High girls’ hockey team went 3-10 in 2016-17, Christian Herzog had high hopes coming into this winter.

“Going in, no matter what happens, I thought that we would be pretty close to .500,” said PHS head coach Herzog.

The Little Tigers exceeded expectations, going 9-7-3 and advancing to the Moran ‘B’ Division final of WIHLMA (Women’s Interscholastic Hockey League of the Mid-Atlantic) tournament.

“I think the team came quite a way from last year to this year,” said Herzog. “We had a bit of talent coming in and it was good to see the returning players get to experience a little stronger season than some of the other ones they had in previous years.”

The one-two punch of freshman Maddie Samaan and sophomore Victoria Zammit gave PHS a stronger offense this winter. Samaan tallied 42 points on 27 goals and 15 assists in earning the program’s Captains’ Award while Zammit was the the team MVP with 44 points on 32 goals and 12 assists.

“Maddie leads by example on the ice; she puts up a lot of points and is strong on the puck and has the ability to get the puck deep,” said Herzog.

“Victoria is extremely strong on the puck. She has got moves and she never seems to run out of gas. She keeps out rolling the whole time. They look for each other on the ice.”

Victoria’s older sister, senior star defenseman and team captain Alexa Zammit, led the blue line unit and also contributed offensively with 28 points on 17 goals and 11 assists.

“It is going to be tough to see her go for sure,” said Herzog of Zammit, who earned the Coach’s Award this season.

“She was a rock on defense. She was getting emotional at the last practice with the other seniors. She was saying, coach, I don’t want to get off the ice, that means it is over.”

The rest of the team’s senior group, Valeria Torres-Olivares, Sydney Rubin, Anna Schmult, Ella Nadeau, and Joslen Beslity, provided toughness and an upbeat attitude.

“It was a good group of girls,” said Herzog, noting that Rubin was named the teams’ Harry Rulon-Miller WIHLMA sportsmanship award recipient.

“Rubin and Schmult got a ton of time. They worked hard, they really improved for us. For Torres-Olivares, it was her second year and she came a long way position wise. She was much stronger on the puck. Nadeau and Beslity were there for the experience, to have fun and try something new. They really enjoyed being out there, they helped team morale.”

PHS has the potential to be strong again next year with with such returners as Samaan, Victoria Zammit, junior Olivia Corrodi (the recipient of the team’s “Head, Heart, and Hustle” award), sophomore goalie Ella Chauder, freshman Olivia Benevenuto, junior Sarah Pagano (the winner of the team’s Most Improved Player award), junior Catherine Liu, and junior Grace Reardon.

In Herzog’s view, those players and newcomers would do well to follow in the positive mindset exuded by this year’s seniors.

“Not a lot of kids have the perspective of ‘let’s enjoy this’; it is a really important perspective, and that is what the seniors had,” said Herzog.

“It is ‘enjoy the moment, have fun with it.’ That is why you started hockey, to have fun with it.”