TOUGH BRAKE: Hun School boys’ hockey player Chris Brake, right, tangles with a foe in a game earlier this season. Last Wednesday, senior captain and forward Brake contributed an assist as top-seeded Hun defeated ninth-seeded Nottingham 6-1 in the Mercer County Tournament quarterfinals and moved to 8-13-2. Hun, which has won six straight county crowns, was slated to play fourth seeded Robbinsville in the semis on February 18 with the victor advancing to the title game on February 21. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

It was a busy day for Chris Brake and the Hun School boys’ hockey team last Wednesday.

In the afternoon, fourth-seeded Hun played at top-seeded Lawrenceville in the Mid-Atlantic Hockey League (MAHL) semifinals and battled valiantly in a 2-1 defeat.

“We have been in this league for a couple of years now and to finally make playoffs is huge,” said senior captain and forward Brake.

“We were very fortunate to have that opportunity. It was a very close game, we gave it our all. It was great for our team to be able to do this.”

At 9:00 that evening, the Raiders were skating at Mercer County Park, playing in the Mercer County Tournament quarterfinals where the top-seeded Raiders defeated ninth-seeded Nottingham 6-1 as they go for the program’s seventh-straight county crown.

“The Mercer County Tournament has always been part of my family’s history,” said Brake, whose older brothers Patrick and Thomas both skated for the Hun program.

“It is always great getting out here; all players in the program get involved. It is a great opportunity for younger players.”

Brake got the scoring started, setting up one of those young players, flicking a pass to freshman Liam Yeoman which he buried in the back of the net as Hun took a 1-0 lead with 3:01 left in the first period and never looked back, improving to 8-13-2.

“I saw Liam Yeoman open; he is a freshman and he was killing it today,” said Brake. “He is going to be a great addition to the team in the future years.”

Serving as team captain has been a great experience for Brake. “I see my role as more of an off ice leader and making sure that the team chemistry is on its game,” said Brake.

“Throughout the year it was great having assistant captains help me out all the way because we do have a team split between English and French speakers. Two of the other captains are from Quebec. It is great being part of this, it is like a family.”

Brake has taken a greater role in the Hun offense this winter. “This year I was fortunate enough to start getting more action and leading a little more on ice,” said the 5’9, 145-pound Brake.

“I am not the most skilled player but I have worked hard throughout the years. I tried to be a good player and lead off the ice. I was named captain this year because of the quiet leadership. It is great to get recognized for hard work and effort, which is one thing that we really focus on here.”

Hun head coach Ian McNally was  happy to see his team’s hard work pay off with a spot in the MAHL tournament.

“It was awesome, it felt like we got a bounce but we deserved it,” said McNally.

“We played this whole season without being able to have this roster we thought we were going to have. We hung around with everybody; if we had gotten blown out every game it would have been a different story. I just felt like we deserved a bounce. We got in on the last day; we needed PDS and Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) to lose and they both lost.”

The Raiders hung around against Lawrenceville, putting a scare into the Big Red.

“It started out how they expected and maybe how some people expected, they outshot us 21-3 in the first,” said McNally.

“It was 1-1 because we scored on one of those three but after that we outshot them by 2-1. We controlled a lot of the play. We kept turning it over and going back in. All of a sudden you get half way through the third and it wasn’t going the way they thought it would. You hang around long enough, you never know.”

While things didn’t go as Hun wanted in the loss to Lawrenceville, the Raiders were pumped to get back in action for their nightcap at the MCT.

“This is like playing in a tournament like the Purple Puck where you play a couple of games in the same day, I think it is great,” said McNally.

“Basically after losing the Lawrenceville game, there was no time to be sad about it. It was let’s go eat a meal and we all came here and we were all in a good mood.”

McNally is happy to see Brake raising his game in the final weeks of his Hun career.

“Chris had five career points up until two weeks ago and now in the last two weeks he has 10 points,” said McNally.

“He went on a tear and has made some great plays. There were two games where we were trying to come back and he hounded somebody, stole the puck, passed it out and we scored. He was the catalyst.”

With Hun slated to play fourth-seeded Robbinsville in the semis on February 18 and the victor advancing to the title game on February 21, McNally is hoping for another great finish.

“It is a whole new group in the room, we said we have got to get this seven-peat and some of them are saying what does that mean,” said McNally with a chuckle.

“Some people don’t even know that because they haven’t been at the school. We have been in a marathon of games the last two, three weeks. Now it is a long weekend, they get a day off on Monday and we will be back here Tuesday so hopefully we will be well rested.”

Brake, for his part, is confident that the Raiders will play well with the seventh title on the line.

“It is always a great way to end the year,” said Brake. “It is something to shoot for because whether our league doesn’t work out or anything, it is good to know that we can have this experience where everyone is involved. It is a great way to end the year.”

http://www.hunschool.org/athletics