MHS hockey shows no panic

Cougars all even after loss to Bridgewater

By: Justin Feil
   Nobody on the Montgomery High School ice hockey team is pushing the panic button.
   And, despite office supply stores’ implications of the contrary, there is no magic easy button for the Cougars. MHS knew nothing would come easily this season, but few realized the road would be this difficult for last season’s state public finalist.
   "It’s not a lost season," said MHS head coach Rob Scarpa after his team fell to 6-6-4 with a 4-2 loss to Bridgewater-Raritan on Wednesday. "We’ve gone through the hard part of the season in terms of back-to-back games and three games in four days. They’re spread out more now and we have some practices between games. In January alone, we’ve played eight games. So it’s been a pretty long stretch.
   "We’ll keep plugging along. I don’t see any quit in the kids. I don’t see them not wanting to do well. They’re not purposely doing something to take away from the team. They realize they make mistakes. They just don’t realize it before they make it. It’s a growing process. But they’re not a young team anymore. They should be ready to get over these types of things."
   Finding the sort of consistency necessary for a big run has been a big challenge. The Cougars have faced a schedule that would leave any team with self doubts, and those challenges only seem to increase with every step of success.
   "I really thought we were getting on a roll when we beat Hillsborough," Scarpa said. "We had two wins in a row going into the Princeton Day game. Then we lost and there went that. We had four in a row with no losses early, but we haven’t had that many again since then."
   MHS followed a 4-1 loss to Princeton Day School last Friday with a 3-3 tie against Steinert on Monday. The Cougars didn’t feel great about either game.
   "We weren’t excellent," Scarpa said of the PDS contest. "We were pretty much average. We’re still making similar mistakes that we’ve been making all along. We gave a lot of room in the defensive zone and they took advantage of it.
   "Against Steinert, it was a game we got down and we fought to come back and we wound up salvaging a tie. It wasn’t a great tie though. It’s a game you want to go in and win. You want to build momentum for Bridgewater and we didn’t, not to take anything away from Steinert."
   The Cougars felt better about their start against Bridgewater on Wednesday. Tom Hackett scored a power-play goal assisted by Mike Yetter for a 1-0 lead in the first period. They couldn’t sustain it.
   "We had killed off a 5-on-3," Scarpa said. "I thought we had gotten into a rhythm. Our first three or four shifts were good. We started to decently control the game. Then we let it slip away. We gave up a couple goals that were defensive breakdowns.
   "The game was lost with about nine minutes to go in the second period when they scored the second one. We didn’t score again. We got our second goal with less than a minute left. We got the second one, but when it’s 4-1, the second goal ultimately ends that game."
   The latest game highlighted just what has plagued the Cougars, who are back in action at Montclair on Saturday. It’s been a little of everything. It’s what has made correcting it swiftly so difficult.
   "We need to improve in all phases — offensively, defensively and goaltending," Scarpa said. "We need to make strides in all four areas — on offense, defense, in goal and on special teams. We need to work to improve all phases."
   Montgomery is focusing on trying to bring it all together in time to make a run in the state tournament. The Cougars face a schedule that won’t be loaded with heavy hitters over the next two and a half weeks.
   "We have six games before the state cutoff," Scarpa said. "We need to win all of them. If they intend to do much of anything, they need to assume we need to win all of them. We can’t squeak into the playoffs. We’re going to have a lower seed than we ever thought we’d have. We have to get some momentum. They have to get confidence back in each other.
   "We’re 3-1-3 in the Central Red. We’ve been in every game except the first Ridge game. We went into (Wednesday) as the second-place team. Bridgewater is 4-2-2. We’re 3-2-3 now. We have multiple division games now. There’d have to be an upset of Bridgewater to get that second seed. Bridgewater finishes up with a lot of Red Division game. We’ve gone through the tough part of the schedule."
   To win out, the Cougars will have to show that they have learned from the grind of games they have faced to date. This week, they took on both a leader in the Colonial Valley Conference and then a top Central Red Division member.
   "We haven’t scored more than three goals in our last four games," Scarpa said. "Steinert was the most we scored. We’re not connecting on the offensive end. And we’ve given up a lot of goals too. We’ve given up 11 goals in three games. That’s a significantly high number for goals for the way I want them to play. I think it’s easier to defend a goal than score one in my book. We’re giving up far too many goals for the amount we’re scoring at this point.
   "We should be winning games, 3-2 or 2-1. Once we give up more than three goals, we’re in trouble."
   Sixteen games into the season, the Cougars are just where they started. They sit at .500 with everything in front of them. Most motivating is that the games that are left are those that will determine the success of the season. Nothing has been lost. And there is everything to be gained.
   "I still think we can play with any given team in public hockey," Scarpa said. "Most of the games we’ve played, I truly feel we’re better than other teams except that we’ve tripped over our own feet."
   The Cougars may have stumbled, but there’s time yet to turn it around for a big sprint to the finish.