Knight ice hockey team unbeaten with senior in cage
By: Justin Feil
As a freshman, Gordon Harvey was the starting goaltender in the West Windsor-Plainsboro North ice hockey team’s first-ever trip to the state tournament.
That experience, however, turned out to be his last real meaningful one for the Knights as Jimmy Merrow replaced him in each of the last two seasons as the starter in most games, particularly the big ones. With Merrow’s transfer to Banff Hockey Academy this year, Harvey is back between the pipes as a starter.
"It’s a great opportunity for him," said Harvey, a senior. "He’s up with some of the best players around. I’m glad for him, and it’s opened an opportunity for me.
"It was tough obviously," he added of not playing. "The last two seasons, I haven’t had a lot of chance to play. I’m trying to take advantage of it and trying not to let the team down too much."
Harvey did no such thing in saving 25 shots in a 4-1 win over Lawrence in the season opener Tuesday. He might have opened the season with a shutout had the Knights not had a giveaway in their own zone in the final seconds of the game. He followed that up with a 3-3 tie with Steinert on Wednesday.
"We still have a lot of things to work on," Harvey said. "Hopefully, it’s still just some early season jitters. Our defense is coming along. Our offense is scoring goals when we need them. We just have to tighten up a few things in the back.
"We came back (Wednesday). They were up, 3-2. It was nice (to come back), but the way we played, it was a disappointing game."
The Knights who come off their best season in program history, a 22-3-1 year that had them in the state’s final eight as well as Mercer County Tournament champions are unbeaten in the early going, and Harvey has been a help.
"Gordie played strong," said WW-PN head coach Tim Grable after Tuesday’s win. "He faced a lot of shots, certainly more than I would have hoped. Gordie played well and he deserved a shutout, but give Lawrence credit. They didn’t give up."
Neither did Harvey when playing time was sparse in the last two seasons.
"It was tough obviously, but Jimmy was an amazing goalie," said Harvey, who also plays baseball for the Knights. "Anyone else, it might have been different. But he was so good, it didn’t really feel that bad to not play.
"I just tried to go out and keep improving my skills. I tried to keep Jimmy on his feet to make sure he had something to strive for. I tried to help the team to by making comments on how they could improve by what I saw."
Harvey’s team attitude that wasn’t lost on Grable, who’s been his coach from the outset, and the beginning of the Knights program.
"He handled it better than most high school kids would handle it," Grable noted. "He was truly a team guy. He got sporadic duty. We tried to work him in as much as possible. He’s ready to take it and run this year.
"Our defense is better than it was three years ago when we were a brand-new team. He then was a freshman on a basically freshman and sophomore team so he saw a lot more shots. He’s a lot bigger now. I’m sure he’s one of the bigger goalies in the CVC. It’s just maturity. It helps."
With each game this season, Harvey should shake free a bit more of the rust, though he got plenty of looks in practice over the past years when the Knights had some of the best offensive players around. In just two games, Harvey, who played some in the Ice Land summer league, can see a difference.
"I was a bit rusty at first, but it’s coming back pretty quickly," he said. "Luckily for me, a lot of the shots I faced were from far out, most of them near the point. It’s when they’re up close that they’re tough."
For anyone, not just Harvey. He’s just happy to have the chance again to help the Knight ice hockey team.
"Now I can have a direct impact on essentially every game, whereas before I had to watch," he said. "It’s a lot better feeling to know you can influence every game, positively and negatively."
And, WW-P North expects, having Gordon Harvey in the cage should be a positive as they aim to finish his career off with another trip to the state tournament.