Little Tigers bow out of states in turnaround year
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Tim Campbell knows how much the seniors on the Princeton High boys ice hockey team have meant to the program.
That is what made watching them play their final game as Little Tigers so tough for the PHS head coach.
”I’ve got six seniors on this team that just said goodbye to their high school careers,” Campbell said after the Little Tigers were eliminated from the state Public B tournament with a 5-2 loss to Middletown South on Wednesday at Mercer County Park. “I think of them as six of my own sons. When you go through an emotional experience with somebody you form a bond that lasts a lifetime and that is what we have done the last four years.”
Campbell had hoped the season would last a little longer, but the seniors depart having put together an impressive final season. Princeton finished 18-5, winning Mercer County Tournament and Colonial Valley Conference Valley Division titles along the way. On Wednesday they fell short against an impressive Middletown South team.
”I could not be more proud of my guys right now,” Campbell said. “We ended the season the exact way we should have ended it, by playing 45 full minutes of hockey against the best team we have ever played in my four years here.
”Nobody we have played is that fast. PDS comes close but nobody is that fast. They play in one of the best conferences in the state and we skated right with them.”
Princeton trailed, 1-0, before evening the score on a goal by Kirby Peck off a pretty feed from Peter Twining. The Little Tigers trailed, 2-1, after two periods and the Eagles scored twice midway through the third period to make it 4-1. Twining got Princeton back to within 4-2 before an empty-net goal with two minutes left accounted for the final score.
Princeton had opened the tournament with a 4-3 overtime win over Bernards. The Little Tigers trailed 3-0 before rallying to win on a goal by Fraser Graham in overtime. The experience of going into the later rounds of the playoffs was a new one for most of the Princeton players. The Little Tigers had not qualified since making the round of 16 in 2007.
”I think the way we played on Monday night is emblematic of that,” Campbell said. “We barely skated through the first round and we were a far better team than we played. But we were not used to that type of atmosphere. But we’ll be back here.
”We were down 3-0 and par for the course for my guys they never gave up. I think they realized what they had to do and they came back and did it.”
Princeton will bid farewell to its six seniors — Fraser Graham, Dean DiTosto, Peter Twining, Griffin Peck, Michael Irving and Owen Diver — who left their mark on the program.
”They formed a bond that you can’t explain,” Campbell said. “Being part of this team, and I am just a part, there are 19 leaders. We’re all a part of a program that is bigger than me or bigger than anybody else.”