By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
The Lawrence High School ice hockey team opened and closed the season with wins, which was commendable given all that happened in between those victories.
The Cardinals knew early in the season that they wouldn’t have the chance to skate for a Mercer County Tournament title or a state tournament berth after receiving three game suspensions in one season. It wasn’t the only tough blow for the Cardinals, who also ended up more than their fair share of tight losses.
”We had a good group,” said LHS head coach Steve Moore after his team finished 6-18-3. “Considering how the season started with the DQ’s in the second game of the year, and not being able to go to states or the county tournament, that could have thrown the year out the window. It was a tough season for the kids, but the seniors stepped up. They understood what the situation was. It’s a group that was looking forward to states, but had to bite the bullet. They played through the season with their chins up. We had some games where it could have gone south, and they played through it.”
The first-year coach will lose five seniors, including Tim Finnerty, the leading scorer in the Colonial Valley Conference. This year, Finnerty topped 100 career goals and 200 career points, doing the latter in a remarkable six-goal performance against Marlboro to become the first LHS player to the milestone.
”I think we’re losing quite a bit of guys senior-wise,” Moore said. “We’re losing some of our top players. Tim Finnerty is moving on along with John Stever and Brock Krawczun. I’ve got some juniors coming in, Pat Fedorko, is one of my stronger players coming back, Brian Azrolan, my goalie, is coming back as a senior. From there, we’ll have a pretty young squad. We have a couple returning freshmen, but mostly sophomores. Corey Crafford will be a junior next year. I think it’s going to be one of those rebuilding years.”
Of primary concern for Moore is the numbers that could come out for the Cardinals. LHS wore down this season after a 4-5-2 start in part due to thin numbers. Those numbers factored in some of the tough losses, such as the 7-6 loss to Marlboro despite Finnerty’s big night.
”A lot of those close games, we usually started off behind and kicked and scratched our way back in the game,” Moore said. “We’d go up or tie it and 30 seconds later, they’d pop one in the net. It’s a culmination of a lot of things — low numbers and just getting worn down. A lot of the seniors, and some of the upperclassmen, try to take it on themselves to win the game and do the best they can. Once that happens, a lot of the younger kids sit back and watch.”
There is always a learning curve among younger players, and Moore is hoping that the experiences of this year benefit his returning players.
”The seniors have all been there,” he said. “The younger kids, we put them in as much as we felt comfortable with. I think they got a good dose of experience and hopefully next year it won’t be such a shocker when they step on the ice.
”We have a really young defense,” he added. “That’s one of our areas that we definitely need to grow in. You have a pretty strong offense, but the best way to protect a young defense is to be strong on offense and sometimes we weren’t strong enough.”
The Cardinals, though, had their share of high-scoring affairs. They beat Hamilton, 8-7, to finish their season. Finnerty had five goals in the win, which was a nice closing after so many close calls when against them.
”It’s tough when you get that over and over and over,” Moore said. “We lost a lot of close games, one- and two-goal games. You throw that together with being disqualified early and it’s a big pill to swallow for such young kids. I think the seniors helped handled it well. I think a lot of them stepped up and tried to remain as positive as they could. They set a pretty good precedent for the kids to follow and the younger kids coming up. They’ll be missed, not just on the ice, but on the bench as well.
”Overall, it was a good year,” he added. “Looking back at the beginning of the season, it could have gone very wrong, very quickly, just the way the kids are and how they handle things at a young age. They did a good job of pulling through and battling through the whole season. It was a good year for everybody.”

