By: centraljersey.com
For all of its early season success against Colonial Valley Conference competition, the West Windsor-Plainsboro High North ice hockey team wondered where it stood against the top competition in the state.
They found out in a 4-2 loss to highly-regarded Bishop Eustace that they can hold their own with anybody.
"It was one of the best games we played all season," junior defenseman Marc Kolber said. "It was competitive most of the way and we had a few bounces not go our way and gave up four goals. They were really good, but we felt like we could play with them."
The loss was the first of the season for the Knights, who will take a 6-1-3 record into today’s meeting with Princeton at 4 p.m. at Mercer County Park. It was their first game outside of the CVC and is part of a rough stretch of games coming up.
After winning 18 games a year ago, the Knights came into this season with hopes of challenging for a CVC Colonial Division title. The good start has given them plenty of confidence.
"It’s surprised me a little, but at the same time we expected to be good," Kolber said. "We lost Dylan Strober, who is our top scorer, to an injury. It will be hard without him but so far we have been going well."
The Knights were scheduled to face WW-P South on Wednesday, but the game was postponed due to snow. Now they face a stretch of games that starts today with Princeton and includes matches with Paul VI of Haddonfield, Brick Memorial, Steinert and Hopewell Valley.
The Knights topped Hopewell the first time they played, 9-6, and the rematch on Jan. 31 could decide the division title.
"They didn’t have their starting goalie the first game, so it could be a different game this time," Kolber said.
Kolber has done his part to help the cause by anchoring a defense that includes junior David Sanberg and a pair of freshmen – Garrett Weinberg and Sam Engel. While he is a forward for his Lawrence Little Flames travel team, he has settled in nicely as a defenseman for the Knights.
"I’ll play wherever they need me to help the team," Kolber said. "I just want to do what I can to help us win. The freshmen we have on defense have played well and David is a very good player. And our goal, David Zohn, is just a sophomore and he has played amazing this year."
The defense has been steady for the Knights this year and allows them to be in every game. Having a veteran like Kolber certainly helps.
"He’s been playing there for three years for us," North coach Bob Weiss said. "He is doing a great job. Having him and Sanberg along with Weinberg and Engel gave us the ability to move Casey Litwack forward and that has helped our offense.
"Kolber is an offensive defenseman and he’s been a good offensive player from the defensive point."
Kolber and Sanberg have helped bring along the two freshmen on defense. The Knights also have a pair of freshman forwards who are playing well in Ed Acetta and Sean Henry.
"We have four freshmen who play quite a bit," Weiss said. "They have a strong travel background and are able to stay right in there with the older players."
At 6-0-2 in CVC play, the Knights are right in the mix with 5-1 Hopewell for the top spot in the Colonial Division. But Weiss knows nothing the rest of the way will be easy, even after a solid performance against Bishop Eustace of the Gordon Division.
"Right now we’re working on our scoring," Weiss said. "Our defense has been good and our goaltending has been better than we could have expected. We have kids that can score, but we have not been consistent with it.
"The Bishop Eustace game was probably the fastest game we have played all year in terms of speed of the game. But once we got used to it, it was a pretty even game."

