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 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption:
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Ryan Overcomes Busted Skate As PHS Boys' Hockey Stuns Hun
By Bill Alden
John Ryan wasn't about to let a busted skate slow him down as the Princeton High boys' ice hockey team faced Hun School last Wednesday.
Realizing in warm-ups that a skate that he had cracked in a practice the night before wasn't going to hold up, the PHS sophomore star borrowed a replacement from assistant coach Bob Corell and was ready to go at face-off even though his foot was pinched a bit.
Within minutes, the Little Tigers had the Raiders on their heels as they jumped out to a 2-1 lead on early goals by Peter Miller and Sam Finnell. Hun, though, controlled play in the second period and built a 3-2 advantage on goals by Drew Mervin and Joseph Deane.
In the final period, Ryan shook off the discomfort from the borrowed skate and hit his stride. He slapped in a rebound with 4:19 to tie the game. Peter Teifer then put PHS in front as he darted past sprawling Hun goalie Ben Wirjosemito and slid the puck into the back of the net. Ryan capped the rousing comeback with an empty net goal in the waning seconds.
A beaming Ryan couldn't stop smiling as he reflected on the dramatic final minutes of the contest which marked PHS' first win over Hun since the 2000 Mercer County Tournament.
"Nothing feels better than a third period comeback," said Ryan. "It's like in football, when you go down the field on the last drive to get the winning touchdown. It means so much to beat Hun. Whenever you beat a prep school, it means a lot. To beat a prep school that's in the same town, it's huge."
Even though PHS appeared to be wearing down as the second period came to a close, Ryan and his mates came out of the dressing room confident that they could forge a rally.
"We realized that we had such a great chance in front of us," recalled Ryan. "We were pretty silent in the locker room, we talked among ourselves. We got out there and got a big chant going. The blood started to flow once we scored."
After emerging as one of the top scorers in the Colonial Valley Conference last season as a freshman, Ryan knows he has to keep the points flowing in order for PHS to succeed.
"As a freshman, you almost feel like you're playing with house money," said Ryan, who has scored 43 points on 26 goals and 17 assists so far this season.
"You're out there looking to have fun and anything you can do to help the team is a plus. As a sophomore, particularly since we don't have any seniors, you take on more of a leadership role. You feel that you have to do more stuff."
While Ryan may be PHS' top gun, he is getting plenty of help from his linemates, Teifer and Finnell. Teifer, a sophomore, has 28 points while junior forward Finnell has contributed 31.
"We feel very responsible to score," said Ryan, referring to he and his linemates. "We're up to the challenge, we love it. It makes us play a lot better. We are completely in sync. I have been playing with Sam on a club team for two years. Peter and I have been best friends going all the way back to kindergarten."
PHS head coach Paul Merrow was certainly happy with how his top line took over the Hun game down the stretch. "I think they did a great job," said Merrow, reflecting on the last minutes of the win over Hun.
"Obviously, Pete with his speed, getting to that puck and getting around the goaltender. John is very elusive. He's not the speediest guy but he's got the stickhandling and he's able to get out of tight places and find open people. Sam battles, he's hard-nosed and works hard. He's a bull in a china shop with a lot of skills."
In Merrow's view, his team's comeback was the product of some collective hard work. "Yesterday in practice, we set the tone," said Merrow, whose team is currently 13-3-1 and plays Lawrence on February 11 at Mercer County Park. "Last night, we had an intense practice. It didn't start out that way but it got very intense. You play the way you practice. If you practice lackadaisically, you play lackadaisically."
PHS will have to play with intensity if it wants to accomplish some special things this winter. "One of the things we talked about is that if we run the table and go 6-0, that's definitely a home game in the state tournament," said Merrow. "We'd like to do that and get that first one so we could get to the next one."
Ryan, for his part, believes the team has the confidence to make such goals a reality. "We just have a really good aura about ourselves," said Ryan. "We feel confident, we know we can go out there and succeed."
And Ryan showed last Wednesday that it will take a lot more than a broken skate to keep him from succeeding.
