Naylor helps Little Tiger boys’ ice hockey open with big win
By: Justin Feil
Jonathan Naylor began this winter feeling a lot more confident than last year about his ability to contribute to the Princeton High boys’ ice hockey team.
Naylor quickly overcame last year’s pre-season jitters to contribute four goals and five assists in his freshman year for a Little Tigers team that established itself as the best in the area by winning the Mercer County Tournament and reaching the sweet 16 in the state tournament. He’s hoping that his game and the Little Tigers pick up where they left off.
"I felt like at the beginning of last year, I was kind of out of it," Naylor said. "I’d go behind the net and fumble the puck and my confidence level wasn’t there. As I started playing with the guys and playing in the league, I started to build my confidence. I built confidence that I could play at this level and with the team."
Naylor got off to a quick start to his sophomore year with a goal in a 7-0 win over Ewing on Thursday while playing on the first line with John Ryan and Peter Teifer. Naylor won’t definitely stick on the first line when Sam Finnell comes back from appendicitis, but he’s certainly being counted on to contribute regardless of the line he is on for a PHS team that has raised expectations with its top four scoring threats Ryan, Teifer, Finnell and Peter Miller returning along with many of its top defensemen.
"I’ve been trying different line combinations without Sam there," said PHS head coach Paul Merrow, whose team was scheduled to play Nottingham on Monday. "Once Sam comes back, we’ll be a little more defined on offense. I’ve been trying to not put all our goal scoring on one line. We’re trying to balance it out more. When you play against good teams, they’re going to recognize that and key on your strongest line. We’re looking for offense from guys other than those four."
That’s where Naylor comes in. He’s proven he can score at the high school level, and the wing is perched on what could be a breakout season as he adds increased consistency on the attack to his increased confidence that is noticeable.
"I do see that in Jon," Merrow said. "Jon is a good talent. I’ve been stressing to Jon to use that talent more. He has it. Sometimes he does (use it), and sometimes he doesn’t. I think he realizes he can do that more."
If PHS can raise its level of play as a team, it will be a hard team to beat. The team lost just four seniors from last year’s 19-5-1 squad and understands well that its is being looked at as an MCT favorite and a state tournament presence though the puck just dropped on the new season.
"The expectations this year are pretty high for us," Naylor acknowledged. "We’re just trying to feed off the adrenaline of last year. We’re still working on the power play and penalty kill. We want to keep that looking sharp.
"We really didn’t get to show what we can do," he added of Thursday’s win. "Ewing isn’t one of the strongest teams in the league. We were not really able to show the skill we have. We were expected to win that game. Overall, we played a fairly decent game. We played a strong game offensively and defensively. We need to work on finishing. We had a lot of chances."
In all, the Little Tigers sent 65 shots on net to Ewing’s three. PHS’ convincing opening showed that it is looking to pick up where it left off.
"I think it’s pretty much the same team with improvements," Naylor said. "The players we did lose, we picked up two pretty decent freshmen. The team hasn’t changed, but players have developed more. I think this year will be a really strong year. For the players we lost, we picked up better players and more experienced players."
Naylor says the Little Tigers feel the weight of bigger expectations and the team is guarding against overconfidence. PHS is hoping to use the lofty goals to its advantage, regardless of opponent strength.
"We don’t want to let the teams we should be beating stay in games," Naylor said. "We don’t want what everybody is saying to get to our heads.
"(Merrow) does talk that we do have a bulls eye on our back. Teams in the CVC and teams out of CVC will be looking for us. When we’re riding high, teams are going to want to knock us down."
The Little Tigers are trying to guard against the possibility. Merrow believes that PHS still has plenty to work on to tip the scales in its favor in the bigger games. A case and point is the power play.
"We’ve been working on the power play every day in practice for 20 minutes at least," Merrow said. "It’s part of the game where we need to capitalize against other teams. We haven’t in the past. This year, with the talent we have up front, we need to capitalize in those situations. Special teams help you out tremendously. If you’re man up, you hope to capitalize."
It’s things like scoring power play goals when the Little Tigers have an opportunity that they hope will put them at another level this year. PHS is looking to give itself every advantage possible to get by the higher level teams it will face this season.
"Smart hockey is going to get us by them," Naylor said. "It’s small things, like races to the puck, like finishing that check, or backchecking as hard as you can so you can catch that 2-on-1. As a whole, we are a good team. We do everything right. The small battles on the ice, we need to win those to do a lot better than we did last year."
Naylor isn’t looking too far away for those steps. He’s hoping that he’s among the most improved players on the Little Tigers team.
"Myself, I feel like I should be able to contribute more than I did last year just because after playing and everything, I know what to expect," Naylor said. "I know how to play the game that I know how to play.
"I think the confidence level is there. We all have this positive reinforcement. We’ve got the expectation that we are going to be this good team. We have the talent on the team. We have to put it together. Once we put it together and everyone starts clicking, we’ll be a really strong team."

