Sparked by Ambitious Freshman Blackburn, Hun Boys’ Hockey Shooting for Big Finish

Bill Alden

Peter Blackburn brought plenty of ambition into his debut campaign with the Hun School boys’ hockey team.

“I came into this season knowing that I wanted to win the Mercer County and state Prep tournaments,” said the freshman forward, whose older brother, A.J., a 2007 Hun grad, starred for the Raiders the last four winters.

“I just wanted to do the best I could for Hun. It’s been tough watching the last four years without playing.”

While Hun was eliminated from the Prep tournament last week by virtue of an 8-0 loss to powerful Morristown-Beard, Blackburn was certainly tough last Friday as he helped to Raiders to an 8-0 win over Princeton High.

Blackburn notched a first-period goal as Hun built a 5-0 cushion on its way to improving to 7-10.

For Blackburn, who went to John Witherspoon Middle School the last two years, getting the win over PHS was special.

“It was fun; it made me work just a little bit harder knowing that my friends were watching,” said Blackburn, who came into the game as Hun’s leading scorer with 12 points on eight goals and four assists. “I wanted to get them to think a little better of me.”

Hun’s eight-goal output should get it playing better offensively. “I think it’s a really good pump up for the upcoming games which will be harder,” added Blackburn. “I think it’s good to score some goals and see what it feels like.”

Blackburn has felt some bumps and bruises as he has adjusted to high school hockey.

“I’m playing with a lot of bigger and older kids,” said Blackburn. “The upperclassmen have really supported me; they have been giving me tips on how to work with the bigger kids and showing me how to be better.”

One of the more helpful upperclassmen has been another one of Blackburn’s brothers, junior Harry.

“It’s been good playing with Harry; he’s been really supportive,” said Blackburn of his brother who had eight points himself in Hun’s first 16 games. “I was expecting a little different but he has been really nice.”

It was nice for Hun head coach Francois Bourbeau to see his team break loose after its disappointing defeat to Mo-Beard.

“It helps the guys’ confidence; we got beat up a little bit at Mo-Beard,” said Bourbeau.

“It was good for the guys to come back strong. Our goal total was high tonight and that was a good thing. We were finally putting the puck into the net and that was a good thing. We were also moving the puck well; we had a lot of nice passing and motion down low. We had a chance to apply our system tonight.”

Bourbeau has been impressed with how quickly Blackburn has been picking up the system.

“Peter is a good asset to the team,” said Bourbeau. “He is a freshman but he has played as well as a lot of my juniors. He’s having a lot of ice time and he deserves it. He does very well. He has the skills and the whole game. He just needs to keep improving it.”

Improvement for the team, though, has come in fits and starts this winter. “I feel like I am on a roller-coaster,” said a smiling Bourbeau.

“I feel some games, yeah we’re making progress and other games I’ll say no. We have had an up and down season right now. My main goal is to have them be on top of the roller coaster when the county tournament comes.”

One constant for Hun this winter has been the play of junior co-captain Stephen Norman.

“Steve, as usual, played well tonight,” said Bourbeau of Norman who had two goals and an assist in the win over PHS. “He’s always a guy with a lot of intensity. Every time I hear his name he is aggressive and hard to the puck.”

Hun hasn’t always been as aggressive as Bourbeau would like. “That’s been a big issue, tonight we came out hard right from the start,” said Bourbeau, whose team plays at Academy of New Church on February 14 before hosting Hopewell Valley on February 18.

“I had been telling the team all week that the intensity had to be there all the time. I think tonight they had a smart intensity. It’s one thing to be intense and be all over the place and then there’s being smart and intense, playing your position and not taking penalties.”

Hun will need to play smart when it faces sixth-seeded Lawrence in the MCT quarterfinals on February 25.

“I haven’t even looked at their record,” acknowledged Bourbeau, whose team is seeded 14th in the MCT. “Right now, I am focusing on making my team stronger. I still have some time to practice for my team. Tonight was a good step toward it.”

Blackburn, for his part, believes Hun can take some major steps in the MCT. “We have been practicing hard all week getting ready for this game so we could get ready for Lawrence,” said Blackburn.

“I think we are going to pull out really strong and hopefully win the counties.”

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