By: Justin Feil
If the Princeton High ice hockey team can reach the state tournament, Matt Leuck feels pretty good about its chances going up against a team from outside the Colonial Valley Conference.
"We’re 4-1 in those games," said Leuck, a PHS junior. "We’ve done pretty well against those teams."
The Little Tigers’ only loss outside the CVC came when they had just eight skaters and a goaltender against a solid South Brunswick squad. Princeton’s gers’ most recent out-of-conference win came without their best overall effort, but it was enough for a 2-1 victory against Montgomery High last Thursday.
They returned to the CVC wars Wednesday and claimed an 8-1 win over Hamilton, raising their record to 9-5-3 two weeks before the Feb. 15 state tournament cut-off. Teams must be .500 or better by then.
"I hope we’re headed in right direction," Leuck said. "After Notre Dame (a 5-3 win), it seemed like we were going to come on. Then (a 6-6 tie with) Lawrence pushed us back. If we can win some of these last games, we’ll get a good seeding in states and the Mercer County Tournament."
Last year, the MCT was where the season ended for the Little Tigers. PHS’ season closed with a somewhat unfulfilled feeling after missing out on states, even after an upset of No. 1 seeded West Windsor-Plainsboro High South in the MCT.
"That was awesome," Leuck said of the win over the Pirates. "But it was over pretty quick. The states is where everyone gets to play teams from around the state.
"I haven’t made it to states since I’ve been here," he added. "I really want to make states. I think that’s big with the team."
In fact, among the PHS team, only the seniors have tasted the state tournament before, and for them it even seems like a long time ago.
"It’s been a two-year hiatus for us," said PHS head coach Paul Merrow, whose team played non-conference foe Westfield Thursday after press time. "To get back would be nice. I posed that to them in the beginning of the season. To get back and host would be even better. That would justify it. Ten wins might get us a home ice game."
After two seasons that ended short of that goal, however, Leuck would be happy just to make the state tournament. He’s been doing his part to ensure that it happens this season.
Leuck already has 13 goals and 21 assists this season, ahead of last year’s pace that had him finishing second on the team with 13 goals and 13 assists as the Little Tigers went 8-12-1. Leuck is second again to Jason Diamond, who scored both goals in Thursday’s win over MHS and had a goal and an assist against Hamilton.
"I just wanted to improve from last year," Leuck said. I wanted to help the team improve from last year. So far my expectations have been filled."
With one more win, PHS will have exceeded last year’s win total. With two more goals, Leuck will have surpassed his best high school season, yet it isn’t his or the PHS offense about which he’s concerned.
"I always think defense first," said Leuck, who plays wing. "Our team could play better defense. The offense is there. We just need to play better team defense."
"We don’t have to work on any sort of offense," agrees Merrow. "We’re getting 25 to 30 shots a game. What we’ve been working on and what I’ve been banging my head all year on is defensive zone coverage and forechecking coverage. We have a lot of guys who like to freelance and that’s a problem. When they do that, we get in trouble. If we play a certain style of defense and stick with it, like we did with Notre Dame, it’s going to work."
Merrow, who was forced to move several offensive players back due to injuries early in the season, is still experimenting to find the most effective combinations. One thing that he hasn’t toyed with is moving Leuck out of the offensive end, nor moving him far from Diamond or Cranbury’s Peter Foster. Foster had two assists against Hamilton, while fellow-Cranbury resident Justin Faulkner scored two goals.
"I think it’s great playing with Jason Diamond," Leuck said. "With the line changes, we haven’t been a consistent line. It should be Pete Foster with us. It worked out last year in the Mercer County Tournament. Pete had to play defense early in the year and he stepped up big. Now we’re definitely starting to gel."
Merrow continues to experiment, and with less than 15 skaters, he doesn’t see a problem with changing up his lines. He’s left Leuck up front where he can be most effective, and Leuck has rewarded his confidence with his best season yet.
"Matt just goes about his business and he does anything you ask of him," Merrow said. "He’s there to feed Jason and vice versa. Matt gets his goals from Jason or from Pete. He’s mainly the set-up man though and he’s a very good player at doing that. He creates a lot of open ice for himself and he draws people to him so he can dish to Jason. And Jason draws a lot of attention and he can do the same."
"My role," Leuck said, "has been the same all year. Just to play hard and hopefully my teammates will follow."
It was guys like Leuck who picked up their play in the third period to take the lead as PHS closed out its 2-1 win over Montgomery. He’s looking to do the same in coming weeks to get the Little Tigers back to the state tournament. It’s not a complicated formula, and PHS is right where it needs to be.
"We knew we could win games big," Leuck said. "We thought we could take a game away from one of those top-seeded teams. We just have to win the games we need to win. We try to play hard in every one and the upsets will come too."

