(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) NO BAILING OUT: Princeton High girls’ hockey senior goalie Olivia Bayles prepares to make a save in recent action. Last Monday, Bayles made 32 saves as PHS blanked Rye Country Day 1-0.

Bayles and Sturm Step Up on Senior Day as PHS Girls’ Hockey Edged By Portledge

Bill Alden

Olivia Bayles has worked tirelessly over the last two years to make herself into a star goalie for the Princeton High girls’ hockey team while Maddy Sturm moved to defense from forward to make the team stronger.

“I did a lot of clinics and a lot of camps over the past two years and summers,” said Bayles.

“I have been playing hockey constantly throughout the year. I haven’t had an offseason.”

Sturm, for her part, sacrificed in order to help Bayles along the blue line.

“It was definitely a challenge; I am not used to thinking in a defensive mindset,” said Sturm.

“It’s a lot more complicated than offense. I finally started to not mind it so much. I like being on defense for this team because you always have people open up high. It has definitely improved my overall game.”

Last Thursday, the two senior stars gave a vivid display of their improvement as PHS battled powerful Portledge School (N.Y.) at Baker Rink.

Having lost 10-0 at Portledge earlier in the season, the Little Tigers were determined to make a better showing in the rematch, getting a little extra inspiration as the program held its annual Senior Day ceremony.

With Bayles making save after save and Sturm spearheading the defense, PHS held Portledge scoreless in the first period, prompting some wild cheering on the Little Tiger bench.

At the other end of the ice, PHS cashed in on its scoring opportunities as precocious freshman forward Keely Herring found the back of the net twice to give the Little Tigers a 2-0 lead after the first period.

Portledge responded with a goal early in the second period but the Little Tigers didn’t lose their resolve, putting the clamps down as they held the Panthers scoreless for the rest of the frame.

In the third period, Portledge knotted the game at 2-2 with 8:28 left on a top shelf goal that Bayles couldn’t stop. Less than two minutes later, PHS regained the lead as junior forward Gabby Vukasin raced end-to-end and fired in a one-timer.

PHS, though, couldn’t hold the fort as an inspired Portledge team scored three goals in the last four minutes of the contest to pull out a 5-3 win.

While Bayles was disappointed with the ultimate result, she was more than proud of the effort PHS displayed in defeat.

“Oh my god, it was just an amazing game, our whole team stepped up,” asserted Bayles, who ended the game with 31 saves.

“It was just incredible; I really thought we were going to win. It was completely insane. This is the No. 1 team in our league and we won two periods against them. That’s just huge; we have never done that before.”

Bayles acknowledged that she was unconscious on some of her point blank saves.

“I had no idea I actually made some of those saves,” said Bayles with a laugh.

“On some of them, I didn’t even look back to see if I had made them. I kept thinking, just look at the puck, just look at the puck.”

Sturm looked at the evening as a chance to go out with a bang at Baker Rink. “I was excited because it was Senior Night but it didn’t hit me until someone pointed out that this is the last time that we are playing here,” said Sturm.

“This rink means a lot, it has been where we do all of our morning practices. It couldn’t have been a better game even though we didn’t win.”

PHS brought confidence into the Portledge game after having topped Holton Arms 6-1 the previous Sunday.

“I think we were on a roll from beating Holton Arms; that was a huge upset,” said Sturm. “Right now we have momentum. We have really come together as a team.”

PHS head coach Jeff Schneider liked the way his team came together in the Portledge game.

“This team came out to play; this is a Portledge team that beat us 10-0 up there and we didn’t let that affect us,” said Schneider.

“We came out from the first drop of the puck and fought tooth and nail for every puck and for every shot.”

In Schneider’s view, his players were inspired by the Senior Day festivities.

“The girls worked hard for four years and this was their last home game in front of their families and friends,” said Schneider. “They really wanted to perform well for them.”

“That’s the best performance I have seen out of her in two years,” maintained Schneider of Bayles, who came up big again last Monday making 32 saves as PHS blanked Rye Country Day 1-0 to improve to 9-10 on the season.

“She has had some games; she shut out Hill earlier this year but that wasn’t the stuff that she was facing out there today. She really did everything she could to help us win this game.”

PHS has been getting some good games lately from its line of Herring, Stephanie Miezin, and Abby Hunter.

“Keely put the puck in the net; we switched the lines up a week and a half ago and put Steph Miezin on the line with her and Abby Hunter.

“The three of them really work the puck well together. I think that they have accounted for more of our goal scoring in the last several games than the first line.”

The Little Tigers can count on junior standout Vukasin for scoring.

“Gabby has an extra motor; she is always digging and trying to get it in,” said Schneider, whose team is next in action when it plays Pingry on February 12 at Bridgewater Arena.

“She had that whole spot there; it was good to see her put it home. I thought that was going to pop their bubble; they showed a lot of heart fighting through that.”

Sturm is confident the Little Tigers will keep showing heart over the rest of the season.

“We would like to keep going with the intensity that we have right now,” asserted Sturm.

“We have 14 new skaters, the first-year skaters are the core of this team. All the captains were first year skaters who started freshman year. I have to say I feel proud of how far our team has come, starting from not being able to skate to being able to play on or close to the level of a team like Portledge.”

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