HEADS UP: Princeton High boys’ hockey player Anders Hedin heads up the ice in a game last winter. Junior forward Hedin figures to be a key performer for the Tigers this winter. PHS opens its 2024-25 campaign by facing Notre Dame on December 6 at the Mercer County Skating Center. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

With the Princeton High boys’ hockey team coming off a disappointing 5-13 campaign last winter, Rik Johnson is looking for his squad to display more intensity this season.

“It is still early going, we have had two on-ice practices and then one dry land on Tuesday,” said PHS head coach Johnson, whose team opens its 2024-25 campaign by facing Notre Dame on December 6 at the Mercer County Skating Center. “The vibes are positive, they are high. We definitely seem to be more focused going into the season. I am hoping to improve on last year.”

Senior forward Brendan Beatty (14 goals, 13 assists in 2023-24) is showing focus as he heads into his final season of hockey.

“Brendan is going to want to ramp up from last year,” said Johnson of Beatty, a lacrosse star who has committed to play for the University of Vermont men’s lax program. “He is looking to be a captain and really wants to step things up for the final go here.”

Johnson believes that a trio of junior forwards — Anders Hedin (3 goals, 4 assists), Ryan Garlock (1 goal, 3 assists), and Liam “Soup” Campbell (2 goals, 2 assists) — are primed to step up.

“Anders is probably 6’3, 6’4 — he has grown quite a bit,” said Johnson. “Ryan and Soup are going to be contributors as well. Soup is looking good in practice. I may keep them together on a line. I could also break them up to strengthen us and make us deeper. We will see.”

The Tigers boast some young forwards who should give the squad depth in sophomore Jacob Rotenberg, sophomore Emil Vecchi (2 goals, 1 assist), and sophomore Henry Wilhelm along with freshmen PJ Ross, Sam Gibb, and Baptiste Demurge.

“We have the guys that are sophomores this year; they look more comfortable, that is a big key,” said Johnson. “Wilhelm is probably going to be offense and defense. PJ is going to be a forward. Sam looks good. Baptiste is another forward.”

On defense, seniors Ed Zhao (4 assists) and Jack Zimet (1 goal, 4 assists) will be leading the way along with freshman Abe Arshan, senior Wyatt Arshan (1 assist), and freshman Marvin Zhu.

“Ed and Jack are back,” said Johnson. “Abe looks good, he will probably be a top four defenseman. Wyatt will play defense if we need it. Marvin is a big kid and has been pretty good.”

At goalie, senior Noah Vitulli (322 saves in 2023-24) and freshman Peter Pessutti will be between the pipes.

“Noah looks improved, like all of the seniors you always want to ramp it up a little bit,” said Johnson. “We did an intrasquad scrimmage and Peter looked pretty good. He is green and you get the mistakes you would expect to see but he also made some nice saves.”

In order to get back on the winning track, the Tigers will have to ramp up things collectively.

“Coach Higgins (assistant coach Cliff Higgins) and I talked about this, they were very relaxed last year,” said Johnson, who guided PHS to a 15-7-1 record in two seasons ago as the squad won the Mercer County Tournament. “For this season, we are going to put the work in. I have stressed this to them in the first three practices. I told them practice is the work time and then we can have fun in the games.”

Johnson likes that way his players have responded so far in the early going.

“Last Wednesday was like a holiday practice, the day before Thanksgiving,” said Johnson. “I was thinking about canceling because it was a 7-8:30 practice. I was like, ‘Oh jeez everybody is going to be gone,’ but almost everybody was there. It was high intensity, it was good.”