By: centraljersey.com
As the most important and fun portion of the high school ice hockey season approaches, Hopewell Valley High is looking more and more like a team intent on making another strong tournament run.
Make that another strong state tournament run. The Mercer County Tournament lasted just one game last year when Princeton knocked off top-seeded HoVal. Hopefully, a lesson learned.
"One of our goals is to get back to that Mercer County Tournament final," coach Paul Merrow said. "We had that one seed last year and that was a big target on our back and it will probably be a bigger target this year. We just have to take it game by game and try to get back to the finals and understand that those teams are good teams."
The Bulldogs will be the No. 1 seed again this year as it is clearly the Colonial Valley Conference’s top team. Hopewell improved to 11-1-1 overall with an 8-1 thrashing of West Windsor-Plainsboro North. The Knights beat HoVal in the season’s second game when they were without goalie Grant Mitchell and Cam Bregenzer.
"Full strength we’re tough to beat," Merrow said, not making excuses for the loss. "But you’ll have times you’re not full strength and you gotta make up for that."
For the most part, however, HoVal has been dominant this year, having outscored foes 86-24. They have allowed two goals or less in nine of 13 games, and three or less in 12.
Not bad for a revamped defense that returned Mitchell and just half its regular defensemen.
"We’re pretty similar to last year in terms of talent and play style," Merrow said. "We graduated hard off the defense so we’re bringing along a freshman in Owen Salmon, a sophomore in Spencer Needham and a junior off the practice squad in Dylan McCullough into the mix. Adding them to a defensive corps of Randy Donovan, Ian McQueary and Tyler Weidman has been a process, but they’ve handled it real well.
"Forward-wise, we graduated a couple of solid guys, but we were able to maintain our focus from last year."
The question begs to be asked then, how does this team stack up with last year’s squad, which roared into the state finals before dropping a heart-breaker?
"I think they experienced last year and this senior and junior group has experienced being in playoff hockey, going deep into the state tournament from the round of 16 (two years ago) to last year’s run to the finals," Merrow said. "They know what needs to be done to get to that point they got to last year.
"It’s not gonna be easy, we stressed that from day one. It’s tough to get back to a final. You have to work hard and want it and they seem to want to work hard and get back to the finals."
The post-season is scheduled to begin Feb. 14 with the MCT. Hopewell will warm up with games against Montgomery, Steinert, Jefferson and Hightstown.
"That will be a good tune-up for us," Merrow said.
In the win over WW-PN, Chris Daly had two goals and three assists while Bregenzer and Matt Apgar both added two goals and two assists. Max Daley had a goal and an assist, Andrew Siddal had a goal and Mitchell, Mike Apgar and Ian McQueary added assists. Mitchell made 21 saves as the Bulldogs increased their unbeaten string to 11 (10-0-1). BOYS BASKETBALL
HoVal took a 40-36 decision to Hightstown as James Harrity had 17 points and John Croak added 12. The re-energized Bulldogs followed with a 52-43 victory over Robbinsville Tuesday, as Max Alton tallied 24 points while Croak added 14. After dropping six straight, Hopewell has won three in a row to level its record at 8-8. GIRLS BASKETBALL
Kelly Williams had 17 points, seven assists and seven rebounds as the Bulldogs took a 72-24 win over Hightstown Friday night. Emily Sing added 14 points while Sarah Gronet had 13 points and four assists and Casey Schoenholtz had five points, five rebounds and four steals.
The Bulldogs were stunned by Robbinsville, 45-41, on Tuesday. Sing had 12 points. BOYS SWIMMING
Jeff Franz won the 50 freestyle in 23.91 and took second in the 100 breaststroke but Hopewell fell to powerful West Windsor-Plainsboro South, 117-53, Saturday. Finishing second for the Bulldogs were Justin Voelzke (50 free) and Chris Landis (100 free, 100 back); while third-place finishers were Ethan Hatke (200 IM), Sam Stuhler (50 free) and Evan Cignarella (100 free). GIRLS SWIMMING
Facing the reigning CVC dynasty, Paige Anderson (200 free relay, 1:51.39; 100 back, 1:03.25) and Lexi Hammett (200 free relay, 50 free, 27.32) both won twice in HoVal’s 106-64 loss to West Windsor-Plainsboro South. Also in the 200 free relay were Shreya Rane and Courtney Youse. Second-place finishers for the Bulldogs were Anderson (200 IM), Hammett (100 free), Rane (500 free); while finishing third were Rane (200 free), Youse (50 free), Carly Bornmann (100 fly) and Jillian Rusnake (100 breast). BOYS TRACK & FIELD
Sam Snyder’s first-place finish in the shot put (56-1) was the big highlight as the Bulldogs finished third in Monday’s Mercer County Indoor Championships in Toms River with 44 points, trailing West Windsor-Plainsboro South (92) and Trenton (58).
Tim Phelan took third in the 55 (6.81) and 200 (23.38) and Zander Filepas was third in the pole vault (11-6); Mike Cross (high jump, 5-10) and Mark Vonjaglinsky (200, 23.87) each took fourth, while a sixth-place finishers was Matt Galiano-Williams (55 hurdles, 8.42).
The 4×400 relay team of Cross, Will Gibson, Phelan and Vonjaglinsky took second in 3:34.40. GIRLS TRACK & FIELD
Defending champion Miranda Mackey continued her winter sprint dominance by winning both the 55 meter dash (7.21) and 200 (25.47) for the second straight year to help the Bulldogs (60 points) to second place behind West Windsor-Plainsboro South (102) at Monday’s Mercer County Indoor Championships in Toms River.
"She is a competitor," coach Aaron "The Ghost of 7-11" Oldfield said. "She works hard and gives everything she has. She really loves the sport."
Second-place finishers were Casey Quinto (3200, 5:18.03) and Jamie Johnson (pole vault, 8-6), while finishing third were Julia Rockey (400, 1:01.26) and Meredith Meyer (high jump, 5-2). Sarah Chandler was fourth in the 3200 (5:23.12) and Caitlin Henderson was fifth in the 400 (1:02.20).
The 4×400 relay team of Henderson, Chandler, Rockey and Mackey took third in 4:11.19.