Suddenly hot Cougars win third straight
By: Justin Feil
Matt Zielinski entered his first season with the Montgomery High ice hockey team expecting to see little more than a view from the bench. But when the Cougars graduated 11 seniors from its best team in program history, it opened the door to the ice.
"I knew we’d lost some seniors, but I thought I’d just watch games," said Zielinski, a freshman. "I’ve gotten used to playing. I thought I wouldn’t get as many shifts as I am."
Zielinski is one of five defensemen that the Cougars regularly rotate, and one of three freshman earning regular shifts for MHS. The freshman are growing up with a steadily improving MHS team that won for the third straight game, 7-0, over Pennington on Tuesday.
"When we started off we lacked maturity," said MHS head coach Yury Tarnavskyj after his team improved to 4-7-4. "We weren’t playing a whole game and being focused. I think that cost us a better record. That’s the price. We learned. Overall, we’ve played good hockey."
It’s getting better as players like Zielinski grow more accustomed to the level of varsity high school hockey. Though he’s like many in that he began playing at a young age he started at 5 while growing up in Western New York it still takes some time to adjust to this level.
"He’s stepped right in there," Tarnavskyj said. "In the last month, he’s established himself as a player on a regular shift. He’s played some forward too for us. He’s got a good sense of the game. He’s physical. He moves the puck well, skates well and he listens.
"It takes a while for some to adjust to it. Matt is able to. Kevin Coffey and Mike Papsin are the other freshman playing regularly. They’re learning the system, learning how to play with the tougher competition."
Zielinski didn’t find any difficulty in fitting in with the MHS team, which has a mix of players who saw some time for last year’s state quarterfinal team and some that haven’t seen as much ice time.
"They’re very supportive of the freshmen," Zielinski said. "They like me. I like them."
Zielinski is doing all he can to help the Cougars like him more. He’d like to help get them back to the state tournament. Tuesday’s shutout was another step in showing that MHS is playing more like a tournament-deserving team.
"It was kind of disappointing when I heard that we graduated 11 seniors," Zielinski said. "I knew if we didn’t play as a team, we wouldn’t be as successful. I think we can be as successful because we can act like a team together.
"That’s helped," he added of the recent wins. "We’d be even better, but a couple players are hurt."
Even so, the Cougars are feeling better about themselves with wins over St. Joseph’s-Hammonton, Brick Memorial and Pennington. In those games, it’s been Zielinski and the defense that has shone brightest.
"We’ve been focusing on playing strong D’," Tarnavskyj noted. "If you look at the last three games, we’ve only given up one goal. That’s positive. That’s the way we have to play."
"We can’t get too cocky," Zielinski said. "It’s three games in a row, but we were down at 1-7-4. We’ve got some more adrenaline pumping. We kind of felt down, but Coach inspired us. If we want to win and go to states, we have to bump up our level of hockey. It’s all come together."
Zielinski knew from even before the first puck was dropped that MHS had a strong chance against Pennington. He was more confident as the game developed that the Cougars were the stronger squad.
"I kind of knew in the beginning," Zielinski said. "We were up by a lot of goals early. We’re a good team when we play together. After we scored a few goals, and we saw how they were playing, I knew we would win. We were more spaced out and I knew we could handle them.
"We played defense and we played offense. The offense helped back on defense and the defense helped up on offense."
MHS had two goals from Papsin and Mike Yetter and one apiece from Tim McMinn, Doug Desario and Sean Hover while Joe Nosker stopped all 15 shots he faced to earn the shutout win. Pennington may have been the last pushover for the Cougars, who don’t have an easy game left.
MHS hosts Bishop Eustace, a 3-1 winner over the Cougars in their first meeting, 5:15 p.m. today. They will face unbeaten Notre Dame, St. Augustine, a 6-0 winner in the season opener, Chatham, Hun, Hopewell Valley and Ridge before the close of the season.
"We’re a little younger this year," Tarnavskyj said. "But we’ve been in every game this year. Every game except for two games have been two-goal games. We got beat, 6-0, but St. Augustine early and lost, 4-1, to Middletown North."
The second time they faced Middletown North, MHS held a 4-3 lead until North tied it with eight seconds to go in the third period. The Cougars need to show they’ve continued to improve while adding on to their winning streak as they look to qualify for the state tournament. Tuesday’s convincing victory is something to build on as they look ahead.
"It always feels good to win," Tarnavskyj said. "The test will come when we get back into the stronger part of the year again."
That time has come, and the Cougars are prepared to keep moving forward. With half a season already behind him, Matt Zielinski is prepared to be a bigger part of the Cougars’ push for the playoffs, a much bigger part than he anticipated coming into his first season.

