Little Tigers stamp themselves as one of state’s top-tier hockey programs
By: Justin Feil
Morris Hills was missing its leading scorer against the Princeton High boys’ ice hockey team Wednesday.
Luckily, the Little Tigers were not without their own high-flying forward, Cranbury’s J.R. Ryan.
After racing out to a 4-0 second-period lead and holding a 4-1 edge to start the third period, PHS saw Morris Hills cut its lead to 6-5 with 2:39 left in regulation. That’s when Ryan registered a goal 10 seconds later for a hat trick and added one for good measure in an 8-5 win at Princeton University’s Baker Rink.
"In the long run we needed them all," said PHS coach Paul Merrow, "Without him, we lose, 5-4."
It certainly didn’t look like it would be a tight game when the Little Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the game. But PHS seemed to forget its history with Morris Hills. In last year’s state tournament, the 20th-seeded Little Tigers needed an extra attacker goal to force overtime in an upset the 13th-seeded Knights despite jumping out to a 2-0 lead. Even a 4-0 lead wasn’t safe against Morris Hills, but the win again helped PHS cement its position among the state’s top tier teams.
"I’d say we had a bit of a chip on our shoulders," Ryan said. "Being seeded 20th last year, we wanted to show the state that we were the better team and get the CVC some respect. We wanted to show them the seeds should be reversed.
"We have a lot more games that we can show the state how good we are. We want to show them that teams in the south can get respect. They’re statement games. We want to show we’re good."
PHS has its biggest chance yet for a statement when it takes on consensus Top-20 team Clifton 7 p.m. tonight (Friday). The Little Tigers will put their unbeaten record on the line again, knowing they can’t play the way they did in the third period.
"We realized we were playing a little sloppy in our end," Ryan said. "We realized we were being selfish.
"I think for the Clifton game, we’ll be ready," he added. "We saw what we can do if we play as a team. We know it’s a challenge. We want to make a statement."
Ryan’s statement was sealed long ago when his name started appearing near the top of all scoring lists. Just a junior, he hasn’t let up in his third year of varsity hockey. This season, he has 33 goals and 15 assists. His role as a scorer has not changed, though he’s tried to be more of a team leader overall.
"His maturity is much better this year," Merrow said. "That’s just age. I’ve tried to tell him that teams are keying on him. They know he’s our go-to guy. He has to dish it off when teams are dragging on him."
There are plenty of weapons surrounding Ryan. Cranbury’s Peter Teifer had three goals of his own in Wednesday’s win while Peter Miller had the first goal of the game for the Little Tigers. PHS dominated the offensive end with a 42-16 shot advantage. Ryan is positive that the defense won’t allow five goals again. It was the most they have surrendered all season.
"I think we’ll clamp down," Ryan said. "I don’t think Clifton can score five goals against us."
The Little Tigers are hoping they were able to learn a lesson in a win, rather than having to take one in a loss. PHS doesn’t want to let another team back in a game like it did for Morris Hills.
"The problem with us is we get up on teams because of good offense and good defense and we don’t keep it up," Merrow said. "When we get up three or four goals, it’s like we get blinders on and we get selfish. We were up, 4-1, at the end of two and that’s what I said to them. And it continued.
"It’s tough to get through to some of them how good they can be when they play together. When they play together, they’re tough. When we play as individuals, it makes it tough on us."
After a lapse of individualist plays, the Little Tigers put everything together in the final four minutes of the game to score their final three goals and pull away for the win. Teifer had the first of those with 3:43 left in regulation, and Ryan answered Morris Hills’ back-to-back goals with two of his own, one with 2:29 to go and another with just 34 seconds remaining.
"We really turned it up a gear," Ryan said. "We started to make some good passes. We had let them take momentum."
Momentum is a big thing in hockey. The Little Tigers want to hold their momentum, not just through Wednesday’s game, but they’d like to carry some into the most important games on their schedule. Last week started a big stretch for PHS. They played Notre Dame to a 1-1 tie in one of their first really competitive games this year. Then Wednesday, they played Morris Hills and today they take on Clifton. Up after Clifton is Steinert, which just suffered its first loss of the season. This month is testing the Little Tigers’ strength.
"We know that 10-0 in December looks good, but realistically we knew teams this month would be four or five times better," Ryan said. "Against Notre Dame, it took us two and a half periods to get going well. Today we started pretty well. We had a lapse in the middle.
"We looked up at the scoreboard and we were winning, 4-0. We turned around and it was 6-5. We picked it up and finished the game better."
The Little Tigers know they can’t afford to let up in the coming games. It’s good preparation for the end of the season that will include Mercer County Tournament games, the Titans Cup and the state tournament.
"Good teams keep coming," Merrow said. "They came out of the locker room wanting to get back in this game and we let them. They’re a team in a tough division, maybe the second toughest in the state. They play this competition every game.
"This (stretch) shows where we’re going to be. This is how I set up the schedule. I couldn’t do anything about our league schedule. Our out-of-conference schedule, we expected more of Bayonne. They graduated a lot. Manasquan, we beat 5-0, and that was our best out-of-conference game to this point. We want to schedule the tougher teams in January. We want to prepare for the end of the season and be stronger at the end than in the beginning."
The Little Tigers ended up being a little stronger in the end than they were even in the beginning of their win over Morris Hills. PHS knows it won’t be so lucky the next time it plays a sloppy third period. Fortunately, PHS found J.R. Ryan with the game on the line and he delivered. Morris Hills had no answer without its top player.
"We were happy when we heard he wasn’t playing," Ryan said. "He had four goals and an assists against us last year. When we heard they didn’t have him, I think we took them more lightly than we should have."