SENIOR MOMENT: Princeton Day School girls’ hockey player Logan Harrison controls the puck in a game earlier this season. Last Friday, senior captain and star forward Harrison scored a goal and had an assist to help PDS defeat Randolph 4-0 as the program held its annual Senior Night celebration. The Panthers, who lost 4-2 to Immaculate Heart last Monday to move to 8-4, host Morristown-Beard on January 31 before playing the Pingry School on February 1 at the Bridgewater Sports Arena. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

As the Princeton Day School girls’ hockey team held its annual Senior Night celebration last Friday when it hosted Randolph High, Logan Harrison was deeply touched.

“It is a great experience. I have been playing here for seven years — this last year I have seen all of the seniors of the past graduate, and now it is like my time,” said senior star forward and team co-captain Harrison. “It is really moving honestly. It really was bittersweet, I was so glad to have my family here too.”

The team’s Class of ’24, which includes 10 players, was honored with numbers posted on one side of the rink and posters with messages from their teammates at the other end. That group has developed a family feeling over the years.

“We got our core group of seniors in our sophomore year and we created a friend group out of that,” said Harrison, whose classmates on the squad include Julia Miranda, Emily McCann, Elena Sichel, Lily Ryan, Colleen Mayer, Isabel Cook, Ceci Scheil, Madison Trend, and Brigid Milligan. “All of these seniors are part of my closest friends. We hang out all of the time and I hope we can hang out after we graduate. It has been so nice playing with them and being able to see how they grow and their skills progress. A lot of people started playing in their freshman or sophomore year.”

Once the game started, Harrison was determined to play well and get everyone in the flow.

“It was, ‘I need to work hard, I need to have everyone else be a part of it,’” says Harrison. “It is a whole community, collaborative thing. You want to work as a team, you want to score, and you want to win on senior night.”

Harrison did some good work on the offensive end on the first period, assisting on a goal by classmate Emily McCann and then scoring on a rush as PDS built a 2-0 lead. On her goal, Harrison took matters into her hands.

“I was going up, I didn’t know if I had anyone with me,” said Harrison. “I was just trying to get a shot on net because somebody could crash the net and get the rebound. I see the five hole open up — I just went in and I shot it there.”

A third senior, Lily Ryan, added another goal along with sophomore Brynn Dandy as the Panthers won 4-0. Senior goalie Brigid Milligan earned the shutout.

For Harrison, seeing her class lead the way in the win was special.

“I am glad that everyone got to see how good our seniors are and how we play together,” said Harrison.

The play of goalie Milligan was a particular highlight of the evening.

“Brigid gets the shutout and she is going out, playing the puck,” said Harrison. “She is doing really great in net since she came here. She is great, I love her.”

With the state playoffs around the corner, Harrison believes the Panthers are primed to do some great things down the stretch.

“I think we are in a really good place as a team. It is not only on the ice, but off the ice too. We know each other,” said Harrison. “We are just trying to enhance our skills and be more of  a team. It is knowing where to be, instead of just skating up alone. It is being able to connect off the ice so that we can understand and learn about each other. When we become better friends, we play better on the ice. It translates.”

As a two-time captain, Harrison has focused on setting a positive tone.

“It is different being a senior captain than a junior captain,” said Harrison. “As a junior captain last year I still had a leadership role, but I was still a junior and not one of the top leaders. As a senior I have really got to explore and be able to express myself and how I want the team to work.”

PDS first-year head coach Jamie Davis has enjoyed seeing the team’s seniors grow over the years.

“We have a lot of seniors that started playing here at PDS,” said Davis, who served as an assistant coach for the program before taking the helm this winter. “It is cool for me, I have been coaching here for four or five years now. I have coached them all the way through. It is nice to teach them how to skate and all of that. That is the case for most of them. Then you have the seniors who have been playing hockey their whole life and we are obviously going to miss them next year.”

The win over Randolph proved to be a cool moment for the team collectively as Davis got to clear his bench.

“It was fun for everyone, for the seniors and all of the players. said Davis. “Everyone got in and we had a lot of fun. It was a good time.”

Davis has had fun watching Harrison develop into a star with her gritty play. “Logan is a great player. She is a two-way player; she does a lot of stuff you really don’t get credit for on the scoresheet,” and Davis. “Her points are probably not as high as they could be. She is doing all of the stuff that takes the opponent out of the play, breaking pucks out, working hard in the corners, doing what a center should be doing. She is still getting her points.”

Goalie Milligan has been doing very well between the pipes.

“She was having fun out there, she was trying to play the puck and skate out of the crease a little bit,” said Davis of Milligan. “She has been here for two years now and has been stealing games for us. She is a big presence in net, she is good at positioning. We work on her focus; as long as she is staying focused and locked in, she plays great.”

With PDS heading into postseason play in early February by competing in the Libera Ice Hockey Tournament and the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) state tourney, Davis is looking for his players to be more opportunistic around goal.

“We are playing really strongly defensively, but we have to score a little bit more,” said Davis, whose team lost 4-2 to Immaculate Heart last Monday to move to 8-4 and hosts Morristown-Beard on January 31 before playing the Pingry School on February 1 at the Bridgewater Sports Arena. “We are winning these close games and that is great. The playoffs are going to be tight games and you want to get those insurance goals. We just need to finish a little bit. We are doing the right stuff in the offensive zone, but we just have to put the puck in the net. That is the next step, that is where it leads.”

Harrison and her classmates enjoyed a moving moment after the game as they gathered on the ice for photos and a group hug as they reflected on the impending finish of their time with the program.

“We just started hugging each other and then at the end, we were talking and reminiscing on the four years,” said Harrison. “It is crazy that it is almost over. This is one of tthe best experiences I have had at PDS, learning and growing  as a team since freshman year. It has been like a safe space for all of us. A lot of these girls, they just start hockey freshman year because they hear how much of a family that we are. We are not just a team, we are a friend group. We like to be around each other and that is something that is important for our team.”