Ravens continued to grow
By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
After some seasons, Dan Bergan doesn’t have a lot of energy left. It can take the Robbinsville High School ice hockey coach weeks to feel rejuvenated.
Not after this season.
”Two days after our loss to Bridgewater, I was already getting pumped up and looking forward to the next year,” Bergan said. “It could be our year.”
What encourages him so much is the way his team performed this season. While some outsiders expected a down year after numerous graduation and transfer losses, the Ravens put together a 15-9-3 record that included a Colonial Division championship in the Colonial Valley Conference, a Mercer County Tournament semifinals berth and a trip to the second round of the Public A Division state tournament. The 15 wins established a new high water mark for the program.
”We won the Colonial Division, which is the toughest division and we’re most proud of that,” Bergan said. “To get a first-round win, once the season started to move along, we expected that. If you look over our six years, we’ve gotten better every year, with record, division, or schedule. Last year, we got crunched by Brick in the second round, 6-1. It was a little closer this year. I hope next year we can get over the hump and advance past the second round.”
This year, it was Bridgewater-Raritan that ended the Ravens’ season, 4-1, in the second round last Thursday, and showed Robbinsville just how it needs to improve.
”The biggest difference was the cruising speed,” Bergan said. “The best way I could put it is they played at a higher rate of speed comfortably than we did.
”When you play at a faster speed, if you’re not comfortable at that speed, you’re bobbling pucks. It’s something we work on constantly. The faster team wins. That’s what makes the difference between the good and average teams.”
The 10th-seeded Ravens were more than an average team, and they were competitive with Bridgewater though the No. 7 seed did control a lot of the play.
”We had some chances,” Bergan said. “Their goalie made some nice saves. They dominated the territorial play. It’s tough to work on a forecheck if you can’t it down to their end. I’d say that was our greatest difficulty — working the puck out of our end to get something going. They’re a good team.”
Robbinsville broke through with its lone goal of the game in the third period when Shaun Cox scored off a feed from Jared Eckert. The seniors are two-thirds of the senior class that will graduate from this year’s team. Defenseman Ryan Hornberger has also played a key role for Robbinsville.
”He developed into the big gnarly defensemen we needed back there,” Bergan said. “Shaun Cox provided a nice year of drama-free leadership. He had a very positive effect on the team, as well as his contributions all over the ice. Jared Eckert was a little more than a learn to skater who became a first-line player and complementary player and a power play player. Hornberger and Eckert, not a lot were expected of when they were younger, and they became important pieces of the puzzle.”
Appearances can be deceiving with the Ravens, who have effectively used their offseason work to produce improvements year after year in individual players and the team overall.
”People that thought we might not be .500 saw that we lost not only our two top forwards and two top defensemen and the Coltons transferred over to PDS,” Bergan said. “That’s what everybody saw. All the work we do during our summer program, it’s a voluntary summer program where we do a 20-game summer game at Iceland. I coach between June 15 and Aug. 15 when we’re allowed to. They probably don’t recall and consider the three weeks of camp we do, where we bring the freshmen in and get them integrated into the system.
”We hold an alumni weekend. We have a black-tie dinner at John Henry’s. The next day, we have an all-day barbecue for anyone been associated with Robbinsville hockey. Then we have former captains do a little symposium and speak to what’s it like playing in college, what it’s like to play at the next level, why is leadership important and those sorts of things, and the following day we do a past vs. present paintball tournament. Then at night, we do a past vs. present alumni game, which is awesome. We wrap up our camp that weekend. We do the equivalent of eight seasons before they graduate, so you can get a learn-to-skater up to speed to become a valuable contributor.”
The Ravens also had their share of new talent. This year, they got an infusion from the inclusion of Allentown High School students, which allowed them to field a full team.
”The Allentown kids were nice contributors this year,” Bergan said. “Keith Allen was just a blessing on defense as a sophomore. He was a real nice contributor back there. He’s a very solid, smart player. We had a kid injured most of the year, Logan Fredericks, but he contributed at the end. He’s just a demon. He’s a smaller kid, high energy, goes hard to the puck, a forechecking demon. And a goal-scorer. He had six or seven goals in the 10-11 games that he actually got the chance to play. Cole Sousa was just one of these kids that every team needs. He works hard, he knows where he has to be. He has a very high battle quotient. He’s one of those complementary forwards that every team needs. Mike Reid, the back-up goaltender for us, he battled through injuries but had some important starts for us.”
With only three seniors leaving, there is plenty of hope for the future.
”We almost move forward by staying even,” Bergan said. “You’re not getting big classes coming in anywhere. There’s a bit of a hole in those classes. I think next year, we’ll get a nice jump. We’re a sophomore dominated team. We have nine sophomores. Kellen Anker, we asked him to hold the fort in goal, and had a young team of mostly sophomores out of in front of him.”
The Ravens will return a more veteran team to surround Anker, who returns after a standout junior year.
”Kellen Anker was in my opinion, technically the best goalie in the CVC this year,” said Bergan, who has been coaching goalies for 30 years. “If I’m starting a team tomorrow for the CVC, Kellen Anker is my choice in goal.”
The Ravens, though, are happy to keep him on their side as they try to once again think about improving next year. It will begin with a schedule boost to include Mennen and Gordon Division teams
”I expect us to jump up and be a 16- or 17-win team,” Bergan said. “I expect to make the Mercer County finals. We got squeezed out by Princeton by one goal. Win a second-round game and get to quarterfinals are goals for next year, get another shot at the Colonial, and get to the Mercer County Tournament finals.”
If the Ravens were able to set new marks this year in what was supposed to be a rebuilding season, they know there’s something bigger ahead in a year that’s coming with higher hopes.

