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PRINCETON: Sydlo’s scrappy play boosts PDS hockey

Pair of assists help girls top PHS

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   Stephanie Sydlo is sometimes overlooked on her line for the Princeton Day School girls ice hockey team.
   Paired with high-scoring Georgia Travers and standout freshman Megan Ofner, Sydlo doesn’t put up the same sorts of numbers as her linemates. But she helps the Panthers generate offense in her own way.
   ”I try to be as scrappy as I can and try to get the puck to my teammates because they both have excellent shots,” Sydlo said. “It’s fun to be scrappy. It makes the game more fun. It raises your intensity and adrenaline.”
   Sydlo’s scrappy play set up Travers’ second goal of the game in a 2-1 win over Princeton High School on Thursday. It wasn’t a thing of beauty from an aesthetic point, but to a hockey purist it was a masterpiece.
   As Sydlo’s stick got tangled up with a PHS player’s, Sydlo kept enough composure as she was falling to the ice to flick the puck to Travers for what turned into the game-winner just 32 seconds into the second period.
   ”It was insane,” said PDS co-coach Kat Smithson after her team improved to 3-2 in varsity games. “Someone was tripping her. As she dove, she passed the puck over to Georgia.
   ”Steph is the type of player who is underrated. She does all the dirty work. She’s the blood, sweat and tears on her line. They all work very, very hard. Steph is the one on the boards, taking a hit or two from someone and dishing the puck off.”
   Every line can use a Sydlo, who still deflects the credit to her linemates, and both were deserving of praise Tuesday. Travers got PDS the scoreboard first when she poked in a rebound in the first period. Sydlo and Ofner were credited with assists.
   ”They’re both really great players,” Sydlo said. “They’re very fast. It’s just a great mix. It’s easy to pass around with them. It’s a fast-paced game. It’s fun. It’s awesome to have a new person to figure out how she can play and see what she can bring.”
   Ofner helped plenty. She was one of the Panthers responsible for slowing down PHS’ Gabby Vukasin, who still managed a goal just 22 seconds after Travers’ second one.
   ”That made a big difference,” Smithson said. “We had great backchecking. We forechecked hard. We covered the points and pushed them out of the middle. We managed to play man to man in the zone and played it pretty well. They managed 28 shots.”
   Bryanna Mayes stopped 27 shots for the Panthers, who will host Hill on Wednesday. The Panthers lost their first meeting to Hill in the season opener, but were encouraged by a one-goal loss after losing last year, 4-0, to them.
   ”It’s always a challenge,” Sydlo said. “Hill is very, very good. They’re aggressive. Any team like that gets us pumped up. Once you get that loss, you want to redeem yourself.”
   PDS didn’t need any extra motivation for PHS, which is also in the Women’s Interscholastic Hockey League Mid-Atlantic. Many of the players know each other from outside club teams and others live in close proximity.
   ”They’ve always been a good rivalry and good competition for us,” Sydlo said. “It was really exciting.”
   The rivalry brought out the best in the Panthers. It was the only way that Sydlo could explain what helped PDS come out on top Thursday.
   ”I think it’s just our intensity was really up,” she said. “We all were passing really well. We were gelling with our lines. Our overall intensity, we really wanted to play.”
   Added Smithson: “We’ve become a way more focused and an intense team, especially in the last two weeks.”
   Sydlo always wanted to play after watching her older brother, John, get into hockey. Though he has graduated from PDS, he still passes along pointers. She started playing in eighth grade and now considers it her main sport, though she also has played soccer and field hockey at PDS.
   ”Her skating and stickhandling and her tenacity, her drive have all gotten better,” Smithson said. “I think she’s got incredible drive. And with every year, it seems to improve.”
   Her drive and scrappy play were rewarded Thursday with the assist to knock off PHS, which fell to 5-5. But you won’t hear Stephanie Sydlo bragging, not about her play or the win it helped bring over the Little Tigers. Not with a rematch scheduled for Feb. 3 and a third contest Feb. 7.
   ”That might get them more fired up,” Sydlo said. “We can’t let this get to our heads. They’re going to come out just as fired up as we are next time.”