IN PLAY: Princeton High boys’ hockey player Justin Joyce goes after the puck last Friday against Hun in the Mercer County Tournament title game. Junior forward Joyce tallied a goal and an assist as top-seeded PHS fell 4-3 to seventh-seeded Hun, giving the Raiders their fourth straight county crown. On Monday in state tournament action, Joyce scored a goal as the ninth-seeded Little Tigers defeated 24th-seeded Ridgewood 6-3 in the opening round of the state Public A tourney. PHS plays at eighth-seeded Southern in the second round of the Public A tournament on February 23. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Battling three-time defending champion Hun in the Mercer County Tournament championship game last Friday, the Princeton High boys hockey team suffered a 10-second lapse in the first period.

Surrendering two goals five minutes into the contest, PHS dug itself a 2-0 hole.

While many teams would have wilted, the top-seeded Little Tigers displayed their skill and character over the next 40 minutes, rallying to turn the game with the seventh-seeded Raiders into a thrilling nail-biter.

PHS cut the Hun lead in half on a Justin Joyce goal early in the second period. Then after Hun forged ahead 3-1 later in the period, the Little Tigers answered with goals by Ryan McCormick and Tooker Callaway in the first 4:05 of the third period to make it 3-3 and put the standing room only crowd packing the rink at Mercer County Park in an uproar.

Hun, though, answered with a goal seconds later to go up 4-3 and then held off a late PHS charge to pull out the win by that margin.

While disappointed by the outcome, PHS head coach Terence Miller had no qualms with the effort he got from his players.

“Hun was a quality team; from what I saw they hadn’t been put to the test yet in this tournament,” said Miller.

“That does speak to our character, we are a never-say-die team. We have been that way all year. Especially since they got those two early ones, for us to hold them to two the rest of the game was impressive.”

The Little Tigers were impressive as they battled Hun tooth and nail to the final second of the contest.

“We had loads and loads of chances and we were flying around the net all night,” said Miller. “We just couldn’t quite bury one there at the end. It just wasn’t our night.”

Junior forward Justin Joyce helped spark the rally, ending up with a goal and an assist on the night.

“Justin was awesome; he has had his legs moving, he has been flying around,” said Miller. “He had a great goal to start us off.”

In goal, senior star Sawyer Peck stood tall, making 31 saves, including stopping Hun star Blake Brown on a penalty shot midway through the second period.

“Sawyer was lights out, especially on that penalty shot and that is a game changer,” said Miller.

Building on its performance against Hun, PHS had its game going last Monday as the ninth-seeded Little Tigers defeated 24th-seeded Ridgewood 6-3 in the opening round of the state Public A tournament.

Miller sensed that his team would bounce back from the defeat to Hun as it entered state tournament competition.

“It is a good prep for the states; it is a good run,” said Miller, whose team improved to 17-3-4 with the win over Ridgewood and now plays at eighth-seeded Southern in a second-round contest on February 23.

“We got it to the final. It is a good experience for these guys to play in the final in front of this type of atmosphere. It is fun. The guys made us proud, they went down swinging. They put up a good fight.”