Panther boys win own invitational
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
The Princeton Day School boys’ ice hockey team surprised itself by capturing its invitational tournament.
”To be honest, the guys played better than I thought they were capable of at this point,” said PDS boys’ coach Scott Bertoli. “I thought it would have taken longer to develop and buy into our system and play the way the kids did this weekend.”
The Panther boys captured their invitational with a 2-0 win over La Salle College High on Sunday. It followed an 8-3 win over the Landon School on Saturday.
”I think finally we started to gel as a team,” said Mike Darrar, who scored the first goal and assisted on the empty-net goal in the win over La Salle. “My line did really well today. I think it’s one of the best games we played. Either today or yesterday was (PDS’ best of the season).”
It was hard to figure which win was more impressive. The Panthers put together an 8-3 win over Landon in which two of Darrar’s linemates — Clint O’Brien and John Inman — along with Spencer Gabin had two goals apiece. They followed it up with a 2-0 win over highly regarded La Salle to improve to 3-1-1.
”I was excited to come in this year and try to prove everyone wrong,” Darrar said. “Everyone thought we wouldn’t be that strong. We had a little slow start, but we’re getting better each game.”
With the win, the Panthers had the pleasure of presenting the invitational trophy before a school assembly Monday. Expectations are moving forward.Darrar’s presence has lifted PDS. The junior wing from Monroe Township steadily has climbed the ladder for the Panthers and is now on the high-flying first line that has carried the weight of heavy expectations.
”It’s a 45-minute game,” Bertoli said. “They play 30, maybe 32 minutes. That’s tough.”
Said Darrar: “We’re in pretty good shape. Clint played football. John plays on another hockey team. I play on another team. We’re in good shape. Who’s going to complain about ice time? I like it.”
Darrar wasn’t always a first-line guy. He spent time behind the top scorers in the past before becoming one this season. He has fit in well with O’Brien and Inman. O’Brien does much of the dirty work in the corners while Darrar and Inman look to create and finish.
”In my first two years, I was always on the defensive line,” Darrar said. “I’ve been there doing that for a couple years. Freshman year, I was on the third line. Last year, I was on the second line. We were always against the top line of the other team. I like playing both.”
The Panthers have been getting plenty out of their top line, but it was the play of their second line and defense that proved just as important throughout the invitational.
”From a personnel point of view,” Bertoli said, “I’ve probably got three or four kids that can score goals. After that, I don’t think the kids’ expectations other than those three or four are to score goals. Last year, I had eight or nine that could and expected to score. So the style of play is completely different. Our scorers scored. They had big game today. It was our second line that played great today. Defensively, they played well and they trapped well and they didn’t give much up. Skye Samse, Max Popkin, Spenser Gabin, and occasionally Carson Bird and Jake Lipkin, they’re our second line.
”My expectations are for them to go out and play sound defensively. They even scored a couple goals. Against a better team, my expectations are that they go out and not get scored on and not give up opportunities. They executed as well as they could.”
Beyond the second line the defense of Erik Donovan and Jon Gatarz along with Theo Casey and Brooks Herr played well in front of goalie Kenny Turner.
”Goaltending was great today,” Bertoli said. “Kenny Turner played today and played great. He made saves. They had a couple flurries. We played so sound defensively that we didn’t give up much. The way we played today is the only way we can play to be successful against good teams.”
Added Darrar: “It was really consistent. They did their job.”
Taking some weight off everyone’s shoulders was Darrar’s first goal. It came in the second period of a hard-fought 0-0 tie, and the short-handed goal lifted the Panthers to the title.
”They were on the power play and the guy turned it over,” Darrar said. “I poked it from him. It was a semi-breakaway. It was 2-on-1. Once I got over the blue line, I kept the puck in the forehand. I think the goalie thought I was going to pass it to John. Once I got over, I knocked it in.
”I think that definitely gave us a boost of confidence that we could win the game. After that, we played a little more defensively. That took a lot of weight off our shoulders.”
Darrar worked hard to come up with the puck late in the game and feed it to Inman, who iced the win with the empty-net goal. PDS will host Bishop Eustace 4 p.m. Wednesday as it looks to build on the tournament title.
”Obviously, you want to score more goals,” Bertoli said. “Part of that is that the first line plays so much. I literally played two lines today. I need to develop more of a third line and more of a presence to give what that second line gives.
”Just because we’ve experienced some success doesn’t mean it will continue. As soon as you have the slightest slip-up, that’s when our team is an average team again. The big thing is to find another three or four kids that can play some minutes and buy our first-line guys some rest.”
Darrar saw the team take some important steps forward in the tournament games. PDS is starting to understand each other’s roles better.
”We definitely put more pucks in the net than we’ve been,” Darrar said. “The first couple (games), we didn’t score that many. We scored eight in the first game and scored two today against a pretty good team.
”We were pretty confident,” he said of the pre-final feeling. “You have to have a little confidence going into the game. I knew most of the kids from the other team. I knew what we had to do to come out strong and beat them.”
Now that the Panthers have a strong tournament win to build on, expectations are on the rise. And maybe a few more surprises ahead of them.
”It was a good team we played,” Bertoli said. “My expectations, I wasn’t overly confident because I didn’t think our kids were where they needed to be. We’re in a position I didn’t think we’d be in now.”

