By Rich Fisher, Sports Editor
Matt Repka could sense it in the game’s early moments; the two biggest detriments to any team in the playoffs — sluggishness and overconfidence.
After defeating St. Joe’s of Hammonton in convincing fashion twice last week, South Brunswick High’s ice hockey team drew the Wildcats as their first-round opponent in the Central Conference Blue Division playoffs, the first step toward the Kelly Cup.
The third time was more harm than charm for the defending Cup champion, as fifth-seeded St. Joe’s skated to a 7-4 victory at the Princeton Sports Center on Monday. It was the first playoff win of any kind for St. Joe’s (8-8-1).
”I just think we were a little overconfident,” said Repka, the team’s lone senior and a captain along with Kush Patel. “As captains we tried to impress on them we couldn’t take them lightly. We were down 6-4 with five minutes left and we were yelling at everyone that the game wasn’t over and we could come back, but we couldn’t get it done.”
South Brunswick, which got a hat trick from Patel, had a 2-1 lead after one period. But St. Joe’s scored four goals in the second period to emerge with a 5-4 lead, and the South Jersey squad tacked on two more in the final 15 minutes. The last was an empty-netter that sealed it and dropped fourth-seeded South’s record to 9-6-2.
But the season is not over, as the Vikings still have the state tournament to look forward to next week. The brackets were not posted by the NJSIAA as of Monday, but Repka said the Vikings had it figured they would be playing Brick Memorial.
”It was definitely a nice accomplishment qualifying for the states,” Repka said. “We’re not sure what to think heading into the states. We don’t know much about Brick. It could go either way.”
Just the fact South Brunswick is in the states says something about the team’s young talent, as the Vikings had to patch plenty of holes from graduation losses.
”There were a few freshmen that we older guys knew about, and we knew they could actually play and stuff,” Repka said. “But we lost a lot of guys from last year, so we knew it would be a different year.
”But it wasn’t as bad as I pictured at all. We did good as a team, a lot of the freshmen grew as players and hopefully next year they’ll do even better.”
Repka pointed out that sophomore forward Tyler Rule and freshman defenseman Sean Kacerosky are two of the younger players who have made a quick impact.
As for his own season, Repka said he didn’t mind being the team’s lone senior.
”It’s definitely been different but it’s been fun too,” he said. “It wasn’t that big a deal to me. Even though the guys are younger than me, we’re still having a great time.”
It’s not over yet, as there’s at least one more game to play.
And, if the Vikes learned anything on Monday, it’s a pretty good bet that overconfidence won’t be a problem in that one.

