Junior leaves PDS hockey for Chewonki
By: Justin Feil
In 1999, Rich Crowley gave up the final three weeks of his junior year with the Princeton Day School ice hockey team to study in the Maine Coast Semester at the Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset, Maine.
Three years later, his younger brother Mike has made the same decision to leave the Panthers with as many as 10 games remaining.
"It was one of the toughest decisions," Mike Crowley said. "Either stay and finish hockey and then go up, or leave now. It took me a long time to figure it out. I’ll also unfortunately miss lacrosse season. But I said that this is a once in a lifetime experience. I spoke to Chris (Barcless, PDS boys’ ice hockey head coach) and he said to do it.
"It’s tough for me to leave. I know I help out with a part of that team. I feel bad about leaving a lot of those kids. They rely on me and I rely on them."
If Crowley was looking for a happy send-off, his final days with the Panthers provided it. The junior defenseman scored the game-winner for a 3-2 PDS win over La Salle Prep on Friday. The Panthers’ scheduled Monday game against Seton Hall Prep was to be Crowley’s last before leaving for Maine.
"It is a good note to leave on," the Montgomery resident said. "Hopefully I’ll do well in the Seton Hall game and leave on two very good notes."
It was the second win of the year for PDS over La Salle and helped the Panthers improve to 11-5-2 before Monday’s game. It was also Crowley’s second goal of the season, and this one was important.
"We had a little trouble getting shots; we were having trouble finishing," Crowley said. "We came off a couple easy games and to come against La Salle was tough. They were ready since we beat them (5-3) earlier. They had never beaten us so there was definitely a lot riding on the game. It was somewhat of a struggle in the beginning, but we kept working from there.
"Dan Bergen, Luke Popko and (Keith) Nelson were working up, and I figured even if they got the shot off, there might be some chance of a rebound. I decided to go down and see what I could get. It deflected off the goalie to the right side and no defenseman was covering me and I was just able to tap it in. That was a great thing to do right before I go away."
The Maine Coast Semester selects only 36 students to study each semester on its 400-acre peninsula. There is an emphasis on learning about the relationship between man and nature, and students split their days between classroom work and outdoor study. PDS is one of 14 member schools associated with Chewonki. Sixty percent of Maine Coast Semester students come from member schools. Classes begin Wednesday and run until May 23.
"It’s a different outlook on how to study," Crowley said. "There’s more interface with the environment. My brother went up and I absolutely loved the campus when we visited. When I had the opportunity to apply, I did that.
"I saw it a couple times on visits. Then they talked about it at school. I’ve basically been at PDS since JK. I was looking for something different. This school matched up with everything."
The only drawback is that Crowley leaves behind a hockey team that was already thin and may be getting thinner by the day. In addition to Crowley, John Sullivan has an injured shoulder that could cost the Panthers another experienced defenseman.
"We still have our work cut out for us," Barcless said. "We’re definitely losing one of our best defenseman.
"Mike jumped in on a rebound (Friday). Luke and Dan Bergen made a nice rush on goal and he got the rebound. He just made a smart play. He jumped in the play. Over the last two years, having had him as a freshman and now, he’s improved a lot. He’s going to be tough to replace when he goes away."
The Panthers are accustomed to losing solid players ever year, though, so PDS has been in this situation before. PDS has been able to maintain a high level of success despite such losses, and this year is no exception to the surprise of Crowley.
"Every year, we lose some great players and get some good new ones in," he said. "This is one of our toughest schedules. It definitely looked like a tough year. I think that our team, after some of the tournaments, we really pulled together. We’re playing really strong. I didn’t think we’d be as strong this year. I’m really happy where we are.
"Our defense was the exact same as last year. We were able to work together. This year, as you keep getting closer to being a senior, you realize you might not be playing in college and you might as well have fun. We’re going to lose ‘Sully’ this year. We have some good guys coming up, but the next couple years will be a challenge so we’re trying to have as much fun and work as hard as possible to show everyone what PDS can do."
So far, the Panthers have been impressive in managing themselves against a difficult schedule.
"Record-wise, 11-5-2 is much much better than we even expected," Barcless said. "Record-wise, it’s quite amazing. You look at out of our five losses, two of them should have been wins and both our ties should have been wins. We could be 15-3. We’re happy with the record. I think we still have a lot of improving."
Barcless saw some of that improvement in the final period of the 3-2 win over La Salle.
"La Salle is a very good team," said Barcless, whose team will host Hill 4 p.m. Wednesday. "It was 2-2 going into the third and we played a very good third period. Guys started to play as a team. They started to stick together. We were positive. Even if guys made a bad play, guys were encouraging them.
"Hopefully, we’ll have a little more consistency," he added. "Hopefully guys just play hard. We’re up against some good teams. Obviously, Lawrenceville and Hill have some very good programs and the preps are going to be tough. My first year at PDS they were tough. This year will be the toughest since my first year."
And everything gets a bit tougher for the Panthers with the departure of Crowley. An experienced defenseman, he’s improved every season.
"He played regularly for us last year," Barcless said, "But not like he’s been doing this year. It’s too bad he’s leaving."
In the midst of a solid season and surrounded by such a close group of friends made it a more difficult for Mike Crowley to leave. But the Maine Coast Semester is a unique experience and next year, he knows that he’ll be back to strengthen the defense of the Princeton Day School boys’ ice hockey team for his entire senior season.

