Hopewell Valley ice hockey
By: Mike Molaro
It didn’t take long for the Hopewell Valley Central High School boys ice hockey squad to get out of the gate.
Opening their season in fine fashion, the Bulldogs scored 20 goals and recorded a pair of shutouts in dominating Hamilton 10-0 on Monday and West Windsor-Plainsboro North 10-0 on Dec. 1.
With sophomore forward Tom Rush and senior defender captain Alex Laughlin each scoring three goals, HoVal needed just two periods to take care of the Hornets at Ice Land. Senior forward Charlie Knights added two goals, and sophomore defender Drew Scannella also scored a goal. Junior goalie Jay Amato made five saves in the Bulldog nets for the shutout.
"It’s tough playing a team that isn’t as talented as you," HoVal coach Rob Siris said. "We want to play at full speed, but sometimes you can’t do that against certain teams. We came out and got the job done in two periods."
Against the Knights in their season opener at Mercer County Park, Rush tallied the hat trick with three goals, junior defender Tom Kawalec had a pair of goals, Laughlin and sophomore forward Charlie Bregenzer each had a goal, Knights had goal and three assists, Scannella had a goal and two assists, and sophomore forward Nick Walker scored a goal. Amato and sophomore goalie Jeff Radice split the goaltending chores and shared the shutout.
"This was a more challenging game than Hamilton," Siris said. "Our depth was the key to this game. North couldn’t match us, and we wore them down."
These first two games have sent a quick message to opponents: This Bulldog team is talented and deep.
"We were able to get quality play from four lines in both games," Siris said. "We have experienced guys and talented younger guys. This team is going to be tough to stop when we are skating well. Teams won’t be able to focus on just one or two guys. We have a lot of guys who can score."
NOTES: Rush led the Bulldogs last year with 28 goals, while Laughlin had 37 points a year ago. HoVal faces Lawrence at 4 p.m. tomorrow at MCP.

