Tournament begins on Monday
By: Justin Feil
Among the three area Colonial Valley Conference teams, the state ice hockey tournament seedings can best be classified as good, bad and how-did-we-get-that?.
West Windsor-Plainsboro High North the good drew the third seed, and will play the winner of No. 30 Pascack Valley and No. 35 North Highlands 6 p.m. Wednesday at Mercer County Park.
"We’re pleased and relieved," said WW-PN head coach Tim Grable, whose squad improved to 19-3-1 overall with an 11-1 win over Hamilton on Wednesday. "That’s what we were looking at. We thought we justified it. And certainly we’re happy with it. We’re relieved because we thought we might be overlooked. But we thought we proved our mettle."
West Windsor-Plainsboro High South the bad does feel overlooked after drawing the No. 27 seed out of 44 teams. The Pirates put together a challenging schedule, and held a 12-7-2 overall record going into Thursday’s scheduled game with Watchung Hills.
Monday, the Pirates topped Notre Dame, 3-2, to clinch the CVC Colonial Division crown. They open the state tournament by hosting No. 38 Jonathan Dayton 4 p.m. Monday at Mercer County Park. With a win, they’d face No. 6 Tenafly.
"I was expecting around 21 or 22," said WW-PS head coach Brian McGurney. "When I see Clifton (who the Pirates beat, 4-3, this season) at 12, and where some other teams from our conference are. . . It works out to our advantage. We don’t want a bye, there’s too much time off. We start Monday and we’ll go out and do our thing."
And, then there’s Princeton High the how-did-we-get that?. The Little Tigers are 11-7-3, and have as many good wins as bad losses. Yet, PHS drew the No. 18 seed, and the top 20 teams get byes into the second round. They’ll play No. 15 Roxbury 5:45 p.m. Wednesday at Mennan Arena, and with a win would face No. 2 Brick.
"We’re very surprised with our seed," said PHS head coach Paul Merrow, whose squad faces WW-PN 3:45 p.m. today at MCP in the final regular-season game. "It definitely exceeded my expectations. It’s a surprise to the kids as well.
"It makes it a lot tougher. We definitely drew a tough seed in Roxbury. That’s a real good league they play in. Not that the CVC doesn’t play good teams, but we have a pretty tough opponent."
The PHS-Roxbury matchup may also be the most interesting of the area teams’ first games. The Little Tigers are 5-6-1 against the nine state tournament teams they faced in the regular season. Their only win over a team seeded higher than them is a 4-3 win over Hightstown Feb. 5. They did not lose to any teams seeded below them, but in the regular season, they did lose to Ewing and tied Lawrence. They have one common opponent with Roxbury.
"They beat Westfield, 5-1; we won, 7-3," Merrow said. "They’re kind of like us. You never know what you’re going to get from game to game. We haven’t played since Feb. 10 and we play (today) against North so hopefully we get some game time in before the 5th.
"It’s going to come down to the team that’s going to be more physical, who wants it more. I can’t see how you wouldn’t want it now."
If PHS has been eerily inconsistent in games, South has been among the best lately. The Pirates had won seven of their last eight, with their only loss coming at the hands of WW-PN, going into Thursday’s scheduled game. That strong finish enabled them to capture a CVC Colonial title that few thought possible.
"It’s nothing we had in our preseason plan," McGurney said. "But what we’ve been drawing from is that no one else had it in their plans either. They had written us off before the season began. That’s something we use to our advantage. It’s easier being the underdog. These guys have come together as a team and they’re playing with a lot of heart and determination.
"In the beginning of the season, we were trying some new lines. We had some injuries. Things weren’t going our way. We had a tough schedule with Brick, Clifton, and with Hightstown, Hopewell and North playing how they were, that’s like three more difficult out-of-conference teams. But this team hasn’t quit. This may be the hardest working team I’ve had at West Windsor. They’ve got it in their heads that nothing’s easy."
Opponents facing the Pirates may find the same to be true. At least, that’s what McGurney expects.
"We’ll go out and play our game," he said. "We’re not going to change our game and I guarantee they’ll know after the first shift that they’re in a game."
With a win today over PHS, WW-P North can clinch its first CVC Valley Division crown. With a loss, the Knights would tie Hopewell. It’s the first step in what the Knights will be a run of titles. They already won their first Mercer County Tournament this season and hope it’s a sign of what they’re capable of in the state tournament.
"We’re going to have some good teams to beat," Grable said. "If you want to get to that last game of the year, you’re going to have to go through the good teams. We worked all year to have a distinct home advantage."
Some of that advantage could be thrown away because the Knights could host No. 14 Hightstown in their second state tournament game. But Grable is confident that WW-PN can follow the road to a title. He has one of the most experienced teams in the state.
"As much as everyone just talks about us being a third-year program, a lot of the kids were forced to play in state games as freshmen," he said. "For a lot of our kids, this is their third state tournament. We don’t have a lot of four-year state guys, but everybody who’s playing for me has been in the state tournament. Our kids are used to it."
In the past two years, WW-PN has fallen to the eventual state champion. The Knights are hoping that that changes this season, and they’d like to be the ones crowned at season’s end.
"Part of the reason the kids worked so hard this year is to give us the seeding," Grable said. "It gives us an opportunity to get there. Typically the top seeds make it to the finals. We don’t want to be the exception."

