Ice hockey
By: Jim Green
The Lawrence High School ice hockey team went 11 games and more than a month between its first two wins of the season. It took only to one game for the Cardinals to win their third.
The Cardinals rolled past Ewing 8-1 Jan. 22 to post its first two-game winning streak of the season. Lawrence was coming off an 8-1 win over Hamilton a week earlier.
"I’ve known that the talent was there this whole season," Lawrence coach Andy Borowsky said. "I don’t think the confidence was ever there. What I think they needed was a stretch of a couple good games."
The Cardinals, who were outscored 67-16 during their 11-game winless streak, netted at least six goals for the third time in four games. Senior captain Chad Ham led the attack against Ewing, racking up two goals and three assists.
"We’ve focused on the last five games being a different season for these guys," Borowsky said.
Lawrence took a slight step back Friday, falling to Colonial Valley Conference Colonial Division rival Steinert 6-3. The loss dropped the Cardinals to 3-8 in the conference, while the Spartans improved their division-leading conference mark to 7-4-1.
The Cardinals led Steinert 4-3 after two periods before surrendering five unanswered goals.
"The only disappointment was because it (the Steinert game) was in our hands," Borowsky said. "The guys worked really hard. It would have been nice to get that game."
Lawrence was looking to avenge a 7-0 season-opening loss to the Spartans. Although the Cardinals did not pull out the win, they showed how far they have come since early December.
"The talent’s there," Borowsky said. "I said that from the beginning of the season. The challenge was, how can I convince these guys of the talent that’s here."
The Cardinals’ offensive talent is finally realizing its potential. Ham again sparked the Cardinals with two assists, increasing his team-leading point total to 14 (six goals, eight assists).
Senior center Sam Hamilton added a goal and an assist and is second on the team with 12 points on seven goals and five assists. Single goals were tallied by junior forward Mike Tennant (four goals, six assists) and senior forward Jon Aicher (eight goals, three assists).
Borowsky was also impressed with the play of junior goalie Dan Katona, who made 20 saves. Katona, who was seeking to go 3-0 since taking over for injured starter Frank DiBella, has made 43 saves in the last two games.
"Katona’s really stepped up," Borowsky said. "He played well against Steinert. He was blocking the first and the second shot."
Despite the third-period letdown against Steinert, Borowsky feels his defensive unit has made great strides this month.
"We’ve been doing a lot of working on where we’re going to be in the defensive zone," Borowsky said. "They (the Lawrence defensemen) have really stepped it up. These guys have been playing great without their starting goalie."
The Cardinals were also without one of their better defensemen, injured sophomore Chris Lucera, against Ewing and Steinert. Juniors Jordan Astrin and Tom Steppien and freshman Tom Guarreri each lifted their play to compensate for the loss.
Guarreri netted his first career goal, while Astrin and Steppien each had assists against Steinert.
"It showed me what they (the Cardinal defensemen) can do, and I think it showed them what they can do," Borowsky said.
The Cardinals lost their second straight game Monday, falling to West Windsor-Plainsboro South 6-1. Aicher scored his team-leading ninth goal in the third period for Lawrence’s sole tally.
The Cardinals (3-12-1) next play Notre Dame at 6 p.m. Friday. Lawrence lost a hard-fought battle with the Fighting Irish 2-1 Dec. 9.
"We started this off two games ago," Borowsky said after the loss to Steinert. "We had six games left, and we definitely thought we should get four wins. We’re looking to try to get four more wins before the season’s over. Our season’s 2-1 right now."

