By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The Hun School ice hockey team made up for a season of frustration in one week., The Raiders entered the Mercer County Tournament with four wins and finished it with eight wins and a fourth straight MCT title., “We kind of built up our schedule and it was pretty demanding,” Hun coach Ian McNally said. “IWe have been able to hang the last two years. This year we were missing one or two pieces. To our credit there was one game at Wyoming Seminary where we had a bad start. A lot of our games we just lost by a handful of goals. We didn’t lose steam., “We had a few losses in a row but I think the kids knew they were not doing anything terrible. We were just playing tough teams every game.”, The seventh-seeded Raiders opened the MCT with a 7-1 win over Pennington and then defeated second-seeded Lawrence, 7-0, in the quarterfinals. Hun topped third-seeded Notre Dame, 6-3, in the semifinals before defeating top-seeded Hun, 4-3, in the championship game., “Four in a row is neat because the kids that were freshmen when we first entered and won are still around as seniors,” McNally said. “They have been here for the four-year run and this time it was a new freshman who did most of the damage.”, Freshman Eddie Evaldi scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner with less than five minutes to play to help the Raiders to the win. Kyle Mandleur and John Chapel also scored for the Raiders, who came up with the win after Princeton rallied to tie the game after trailing, 3-1. Freshman Jackson Cole picked up the win in goal., “This is a little more workmanlike group that the teams we have had the last couple of years,” said McNally, whose team finished the season 8-16. “We usually play with three lines and this year we played four plus with a group of more blue collar players. In the past one or two of our lines would do all the damage.”, This year’s final turned out to be a one-goal game played in front of a big crowd at Mercer County Park., “The atmosphere was pretty incredible with two Princeton schools,” McNally said. “There were so many friends and family out in full force. The place seemed to have a little extra energy in the building., “I am familiar with a lot of their kids through Princeton Youth hockey. We never seemed to play them in this tournament just because of the way the seeds would work out. They have a good team and should be good going forward.”
