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 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption:
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PDS Boys' Hockey Can't Overcome Deficit As Prep Title Run Ends in Loss to Mo-Beard
By Bill Alden
With just over four minutes remaining in the state boys' Prep title game last Wednesday, Princeton Day School senior star Will Denise glanced up at the scoreboard and just bowed his head.
The numbers reflected on the board didn't paint a pretty picture as they showed that PDS was trailing visiting Morristown-Beard by a 3-0 margin.
But with PDS coming into the night having won seven straight prep titles, Denise and his teammates weren't about to go down without a fight before their home fans.
Denise swooped in for a goal with 3:59 remaining and then David Brownschidle tallied with 30 seconds left in regulation.
With the PDS fans whipped into a frenzy, the Panthers earned a face-off in front of the Mo-Beard goal with eight seconds left. The Panthers, though, couldn't get off another shot as their prep title reign finally came to an end.
After consoling his squad, PDS head coach Chris Barcless shook his head as he assessed the loss.
"We didn't answer the call until there were four minutes left and by that time we had dug ourselves a three-goal deficit," said Barcless, whose club fell to 15-5-2 with the setback. My hat's off to Mo-Beard, they outworked us for two and a half periods."
The Panthers were done in by a bad eight-minute stretch in the second period when they surrendered three goals.
"The first goal came on a turnover in the neutral zone," explained Barcless. "On the second goal, we messed up coverage in the zone. We had bad coverage off a face-off. On their third goal, our defenseman shot a puck into their shinguards. We kind of got three unlucky bounces and it was just too big of a deficit for us to dig ourselves out of.'
Barcless, though, wasn't surprised that his team nearly overcame those bad breaks. "You can't say enough about the character of the guys in that locker room," asserted Barcless.
"We knocked off a top-3 team in the beginning of the week in Seton Hall Prep. We tied Lawrenceville 1-1. We have had seven one-goal games. We're 15-5 and we could easily be 5-15."
A key reason that PDS has been able to prevail in the close ones has been the play of the dynamic Denise.
"He's unbelievable," said Barcless of the diminutive senior forward who has scored a team-high 34 points on 18 goals and 16 assists. "He's a special kid to have as part of our program. It's too bad that he is a senior. He's just a great kid."
The pleasure of getting the chance to coach players like Denise outweighed the sting of seeing his program's state title run come to an end.
"I'm disappointed tonight," added Barcless. "I'm still thrilled to death with the way that we have played this season. It hurts a little but it still won't effect what these kids have done."
The Panthers get the chance to do some more special things as they conclude their season by hosting their annual PDS Invitational on February 26-27.
"Our tournament is always pretty tough," said Barcless, whose team will welcome Kingswood-Oxford, Rye Country Day, and St Mary's (Long Island) into town for the event.
"Our seniors have won three in a row and this will be an opportunity to win four tournaments in a row. It's important to us; it's the end of the season. No matter what you do, you want to win your last game of the season so hopefully we'll win the tournament."
If the Panthers can keep that string alive, Denise and his teammates will be able to smile as they glance up at the scoreboard in the waning moments of the season.
