By Michael Holcombe, Sports Writer
In the short history of the Monroe Township High School ice hockey program, there may never have been a bigger game than the 5-4 win over Toms River North last Friday.
With only three games remaining to qualify for the state tournament, and only one of them a likely win, the showdown with North was a must win if Monroe was to reach its goal of finally competing in the season ending tournament.
Now, Monroe needs only to pick up one more win. That seems less likely to happen Jan. 31 against a Toms River East team that Monroe head coach Gerard Minter describes as the “the best team we will see all year,” than it will be the following Friday against a Ewing team that Monroe has already beaten 7-1 this season.
Monroe showed some resiliency in the big win over TRN, falling behind only 10 seconds into the game, answering with a pair of goals and jumping back out ahead 4-2 after Toms River North had managed to tie the game at two.
Artie Thompson’s hat trick went a long way towards securing the win, but so did Monroe’s ability to overcome the discouraging, early score by Toms River and the play of goalie Colin Riedel.
”Our kids were pretty hyped up for the game,” said Minter of the win. “They scored on us 10 seconds into the game and the kids were still hyped up. I just reminded them that one goal doesn’t win a hockey game. Especially in high school hockey, you rarely see one goal win the game.
”We scored the next two and played well the whole game. All the goals we scored were good goals. We created chances. The first goal (North) scored we got caught on our heels right off the faceoff. Once we took the lead we didn’t lose it the rest of the way.
”At the end of the intermission we knew we were in the driver’s seat. Going into the third period we knew that as long as we kept playing the way we had been playing we could come away with a win. (North) even had a good chance at the end of the game to tie it up. But our goalie made a great save to save the game. The last minute and a half was a mad scramble with their goalie pulled.
”We were definitely more focused for this game. They all knew what was at stake. It’s the first time we’ve had the chance.
The program is only two years old and to have this happen and reach this point is great. For the kids coming up it’s knowing ours is a reputable program and they can look forward to being a part of that.”
One of the key elements in the big win was the fact that Monroe was able to have a pair of on ice practices in the week preceding the game. Minter made the most of them and saw the results as his team defeated Toms River North.
”It was all the things we worked on during the week,” Minter said of his team’s performance in Friday’s win. “We just minimized our mistakes and gave them the least possible chances to score. We were keeping them outside and not giving them the shots and using our transition well to get our own shots.
”Toms River North was good at making good on their chances. When they got their chances they made us pay for our mistakes.”
Before Monroe takes on its two games against Toms River East and Ewing in another week, it will be playing two more contests against sub varsity opponents Woodbridge and Colonia that will not count towards state tournament qualifying.
This will again give Minter and his skaters a chance to work out all the kinks and give lots of players more ice time than they have been getting in some of the more pressure packed games.
”We’ll still be working on the small things this week in practice,” Minter said. ‘I don’t think any team scores on us because they are better than us. I think they score because we make mistakes. We’re still all about reducing the chances they get in a game and about us being in the right spot which, of course, doesn’t always work out perfectly.
But we just want to minimize what they can get. That process is never over. If I had them for 10 years we would still be working on that. No matter what team or what coach, that never ends.”
