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TRENDING:
The pairings are out for the second edition of the Colonial Valley Conference Ice Hockey Tournament and there are a few teams that have been anxiously awaiting its arrival.
Third-seeded Hopewell Valley/Montgomery would love to defend its title, top-seeded Robbinsville/Allentown wants to prove it’s the best in the conference, second-seeded Paul VI would like to make amends for its only conference loss to Robbinsville/Allentown, West Windsor-Plainsboro wants to show it’s better than the record indicates and Princeton and Notre Dame is always one of the CVC’s greatest rivalries.
The Lawrence/Ewing/Hightstown Tri-op and the Hamilton Tri-op have struggled this year and would love an upset, but certainly both will settle for a good learning experience as each team is young.
There are two first round games on Wednesday and two on Friday.
Here’s a look at Wednesday’s first round games at Mercer County Rink:
No. 5 Notre Dame (3-12) vs No. 4 Princeton (8-9-1), 3:30 p.m.
The Tigers have a pair of regular-season wins over the Irish, but they were vastly different. The first was a 12-5 rout and the second an 8-7 nail-biter.
Does that mean the Irish are getting closer to an upset?
“ND went goal for goal with us just a week ago,’’ said Princeton coach Rik Johnson. “They’re not going to roll over. We have the potential and firepower to do good things, but we’ll need 45 minutes of maximum effort from the entire lineup.’’
Princeton snapped a three-game losing skid on Friday with a 5-3 win over Ocean Township and have been led this season by sophomore Baptiste Demurge with 21 goals and 15 assists.
He has gotten plenty of support from senior Anders Hedin with a team high 27 assists and sophomore Abe Arshan has 16 goals and 17 assists. Peter Pessutti has been impressive between the pipes for the Tigers.
“Postseason play is an opportunity,’’ said Johnson. “The final chance in the case of senior student athletes, to reset their standing.’’
The Irish, who are in the midst of one of the toughest seasons in program history, would love to reset things in the tournament.
“What has impressed me the most is the way the team rallied around Colin Beauchmin for stepping up,’’ said ND coach Mike McVey, of the freshman goalie. “We had a handful of our freshmen get a lot of playing time and experience this season. We have played well in our last two games and look to carry that momentum into the tournament.’’
Junior Mikey Casella leads ND with 29 points on 11 goals and 28 assists and senior Mike Kuzma has a team high 16 goals eight assists.
“Princeton is a very hard working team,’’ said McVey. “We played them well last time. We need to play a very disciplined game to beat them. We can’t turn the puck over and we have to stay out of the box. I expect it to be a very competitive game.’’
Johnson is aware that facing a team the third time isn’t always a charm.
“It’s very tough to go 3-0 when facing a team three times,’’ said Johnson.
Look for the Tigers in a close one.
No. 2 Paul VI (14-3) vs No. 7 Lawrence/Hightstown/Ewing (1-9), 5:30 p.m.
It has been an amazing season for Paul VI and the Valley Division champion has earned the No. 2 seed. It brings a three-game winning streak into the tourney and has a scoring margin of 35-10 in those three wins.
“I think we’re in a good spot,’’ said PVI coach Chalie Hall. “We just had a big game against a good Bergen Catholic team and we got back to what makes us successful. It was a bit of an up and down game, but I came away feeling that the team was enjoying hockey.’’
Senior Nick Aversa, one of the state’s top players, enjoys the game as he leads with 26 goals and 34 assists. During the three-game streak Aversa went over the 100-assist plateau.
Sophomore Jason Bloor has 15 goals and 17 assists and junior Nicholas Lento has 15 goals and 18 assists.
PVI downed the Tri-op twice this season.
“One key to going deep in the tournament is staying true to who we are and keeping things simple,’’ said Hall. “When we start to do too much, we get out of sorts. A second key is not to get too emotional. We got too emotional a couple times and it came back to bite us. Finally, the last key is not to play the moment, but play the game. If we get too caught up in what’s at stake, we’ll lose sight of who is in front of us; just play the way we know how to and we’ll be just fine.’’
Paul VI should advance to the semifinals.
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