ENDGAME: Hun School boys’ hockey player Eddie Evaldi speeds up the ice last Friday in the Mercer County Tournament championship game. Junior star Evaldi tallied a goal in the contest for top-seeded and six-time defending champion Hun but it wasn’t enough as second-seeded Princeton High overcame a 5-0 deficit to pull out a 7-5 win. The defeat left the Raiders with a final record of 9-14-2. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

History appeared to be repeating itself as the Hun School boys’ hockey team faced Princeton High in the Mercer County Tournament final last Friday evening.

Having won six straight county crowns with PHS as the runner-up the past three seasons, Hun built a 5-0 lead over the Tigers early in the second period in the contest at the Mercer County Park Skating Center.

With 4:00 left in the third period, Hun had a 5-2 advantage and its student section was chanting “warm up the bus, warm up the bus” at the PHS fans.

But at that point, the Tigers caught fire, tallying four unanswered goals in span of 2:26 from 3:57 to 1:31 left in regulation and added an empty net goal to pull out a stunning 7-5 win.

Afterwards, a subdued Hun head coach Ian McNally acknowledged that his squad got overwhelmed by the PHS surge.

“The momentum swing started happening and it was like a tidal wave; all of a sudden you can’t get out of your own way,” said McNally, who got two goals and two assists from junior star Charles Lavoie in the loss with Eddie Evaldi, Riley Frost and William Banford adding one goal apiece.

“Leading into that, I don’t think the players did too many things wrong. I think the goalies [Jeff Borek, Stephen Chen] played great. It was happening the way we thought it might happen and then all of a sudden it didn’t.”

As Hun built the lead, McNally extended his line rotation to give his reserves some ice time and when PHS gained momentum, Hun found itself on its heels.

“We tried to play everybody who was here and in the end, it didn’t work,” said McNally.

“It is a very mental game; one second you can feel great and one second later you have some doubt. We didn’t anticipate it happening.”

While Hun fell short of earning its seventh county crown, McNally takes pride in what the program has accomplished and believes the loss can serve as motivation for future title runs.

“Obviously, it was a lot of fun,” said McNally, whose team ended the winter with a 9-14-2 record.

“I see Jon Bendorf over there; he was here for the first couple of titles. I know that there are other guys who come back to follow and watch. That means a lot to them. I think maybe some guys will be a little hungrier next year, having not won. There is good and bad to it.”