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 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption:
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High-Scoring PHS Girls' Hockey Taking Its Game to a New Level
By Bill Alden
Two winters ago, the Princeton High girls' ice hockey team, developed a stingy defense to help transform the fledgling program into a winner.
With an infusion of offensive punch this season, it appears that the Little Tigers are poised to become a juggernaut. PHS has jumped out to a 3-1-1 start, scoring 27 goals in the process.
After the Little Tigers routed Stuart 10-0 last Friday at Baker Rink, PHS head coach Matt Becan smiled broadly as he assessed his team's attack.
"We have a very strong offense this year," said Becan, whose team went on to beat Summit 5-2 on Saturday before losing 4-0 to Hill on Sunday with a depleted lineup due to injury. "We've got some very talented players this year."
PHS is getting particularly strong production up front from senior Vicki Chen and freshman Blair Thompson. Chen had two goals and three assists in the win over Stuart while Thompson had a hat trick together with three assists.
"Vicki is at the top of her game," said Becan, who did lose sophomore star forward Dee Dee Mahon indefinitely to a broken wrist suffered in the win over Summit.
"We were blessed to get Blair. She's a freshman who came to us from Minnesota. She's outstanding, she's got tremendous skills. She's a huge help to our team; she is really going to solidify our scoring."
Becan is also getting a valuable offensive contribution from skilled defender Cami Mahon. "Cami is playing unbelievably this year," said Becan, who is also getting production from Suzanne Hudis, Julia Wilson, Blathnaid Mahon, and Carly Ray. "We're trying to get her to step into the play and score some goals."
While the Little Tiger offense is clearly revved up this season, the team's defense is still formidable. "I think defensively we've been pretty good as well," asserted Becan, who has been using both Emily Schulte and Stacy Weingarten in goal.
"We haven't had a lot of defensive battles yet. Our defense is learning to correct mistakes, they are very disciplined. The great thing is that we are using four or five defensemen. We have Cami, Kristen Naylor, Melissa Diamond, and Rebecca Katz as well as Katie Burke."
In fact, one of the team's chief attributes is its overall depth. "We're so deep as far as the number of players," explained Becan, whose club went 9-7 last season. "We have so many new players. I usually skate 17 girls and I think I had another 10 working on the scorebooks tonight. Those are going to be the players that I'm going to look to in order to fill the lines in the future."
The Little Tigers' depth will come in handy in particular this winter as it has joined the newly-formed Mid-Atlantic Girls Prep Hockey League.
The league includes eight teams including such current PHS rivals as Princeton Day School, Morristown Beard, and Pingry and there will be a playoff at the end of the season to determine a league champion.
"The girls are so excited for it," said Becan, referring to the league. "They know that there is something to play for. A lot of the league games are against teams we already had rivalries with. Now, the league just makes them bigger."
No matter how PHS fares in the inaugural season of the league, the team has clearly made strides.
"The program just continues to move forward," maintained Becan, whose club plays two games at league foe Shady Side on December 18 and 19.
"That's my goal as a coach, to keep it moving forward and finding different ways that we can become stronger and better. I couldn't be happier right now, I'm just hoping we can continue this for the rest of the year and into next year."
