Pirates improve to .500 by avenging loss to North
By: Justin Feil
Mike Nestel has been playing ice hockey for close to a decade, and is in his second season with the West Windsor-Plainsboro South squad.
In all that time, in all those games, the Pirates sophomore never had a moment like he did in Friday’s 4-3 win over WW-P North at Mercer County Park. Nestel’s goal with 23 seconds to play in the final period provided the difference in the matchup of rivals.
"It was great," said the South forward, who scored his fifth goal of the season to go with two assists, one of which he had Friday. "That is definitely the biggest goal I’ve ever scored in my career just given the situation. At the very end, with 30 seconds left, we had a line change and I came back on the ice. I was thinking now or never."
Now proved the perfect time for Nestel and the Pirates, who needed a big win. North had beaten WW-P South, 4-2, in the second game of the season for the Pirates. WW-P South was coming into the teams’ second meeting off a 10-1 loss at the hands of Hopewell Valley, and was facing the prospect of dipping two games under .500. Instead they climbed back to even at 5-5 while dropping the Knights, who are one of four teams to qualify to play for the Titans Cup, to 10-3.
"That’s huge," Nestel said. "Right now, we don’t want to look too far ahead, but states are a month and a half ahead. We have to take it one game at a time. Now that we’re 5-5, it’s like a clean slate."
WW-P North jumped to a 2-1 first-period lead before South took 3-2 lead after the second period. In the third period, the Knights, who got two goals from Scott Bailer, tied it before a dramatic ending.
"When I got the puck, I felt like I had to make something happen," Nestel said. "I took it behind the net. I was looking to pass it to one of my teammates, either a forward or a defenseman. I also saw I could skate it out. I did, and I shot it looking to score."
The shot went in to give the Pirates the chance to avenge their early season 4-2 loss at the hands of WW-P North. After his game-winner, the rest is a blur to Nestel.
"It was pretty crazy," he said.
"Any time you win like that, that’s going to be big against any team," said Pirates head coach Brian McGurney, whose team plays Princeton High School on Friday. "It was bigger because it was North. Now though we have a week off. We want to come back and build off this."
A win in dramatic fashion like Friday’s over North can only help. The Pirates again got strong goaltending from Dan Katz, who turned away 31 of the 34 shots he faced, on the heels of stopping 55 shots in the loss to Hopewell. Will Dzugan had two goals for the Pirates. Beating a Knights squad that had 10 wins can give the Pirates a push into the second half of the season.
"The win definitely gives us a lot more confidence," Nestel said. "Their record was 10-2 and we beat them. It almost feels like we can’t be stopped. It feels good. We’re pretty confident now."
Nestel, too, is a more confident player this season. As a freshman, he adjusted to the high school game well enough to contribute. This year, he’s stepped up to become the Pirates’ third-leading goal scorer.
"He’s been our most improved player since last year," McGurney said. "Last year, he had a travel conflict. He changed travel teams and is on a more high school friendly team this year. He’s focused and doing well. He’s our most improved player so far."
It has helped Nestel to play for a Pirates team that has grown together. WW-P South doesn’t have a large veteran contingent, but the players have stuck together through their losses and tried to learn from them.
"After the Hopewell game, we just wanted to learn from our mistakes," Nestel said. "We knew they were a fast team and we wanted to use what we learned against North. It worked out. We wanted to put it behind us.
"We got a lot closer as a team," he added. "We all know each other more. We know where everyone is on the ice. We know where everyone will go. In between North games, we had about six games with each other and that really helped."Getting the chance to avenge the earlier loss was the perfect way to showcase the turnaround of the Pirates. The Pirates have changed their forecheck since that first meeting with the Knights. They also felt good about their chances if they could eliminate a couple costly turnovers from the first meeting and stay together from start to finish of the game.
"I didn’t expect to go out and blow their doors off," McGurney said. "I don’t think they expected to do that to us. One could be the best in the conference and the other could be the worst and it would still be close."
WW-P South is showing it can raise its level week by week. It has seen development in its on- and off-ice chemistry.
"Definitely parts of our game have improved," Nestel said. "The biggest thing is we all got closer. We feel like a real team, like a family."
The development and a big win over North has the Pirates confident for the remainder of the season.
"They knew the first game wasn’t their best effort," McGurney said. "We had two defensive turnovers that led to their goals. We wanted to work on some things against them.
"We came out ready to play. Aside from the Clifton game, it was probably our best all-around team effort of the season."
McGurney was especially pleased with the play of Nestel, who has become a bigger part of the Pirates plans this season. After having all of three assists last year, he has started to work well on his new line with John Shaughnessy and Mike Deverstern. He played best in his third game together with the line Friday.
"Mike Nestel, it was easily the best game he played," McGurney said. "From even before he got the game-winner, he was all over the place. In our offensive zone, he didn’t stop. He didn’t quit."
His efforts helped avenge one earlier loss. It was a big loss because it came in a strong rivalry with North. Turning it around and winning is a good starting point for the remainder of the season, for Nestel and his team.
"It was huge," he said. "The icing on the cake was beating North. Everything about it was great. It was the right place and right time.
"It helps my confidence. And our team’s chances are better at going farther. We have more confidence, we’re closer and we have more advantages going toward the second half of the season."