Reece aids in win, North falls
By: Justin Feil
Jon Reece was happy that his West Windsor-Plainsboro High South ice hockey team remained in the Mercer County Tournament with an 8-0 win over Ewing on Monday.
The junior forward will be even happier if the Pirates can make it into the state tournament by the Feb. 13 cutoff for being .500.
"After last year, when we didn’t make states, we definitely want to make states," said Reece, who scored two goals and had an assist as the Pirates improved to 6-4-2 Monday. "We have enough talent to do it. If we keep playing our game, hopefully we’ll make it."
Reece has been a bigger part of the Pirates’ game plan each successive season. He didn’t get significant shifts until last year, when he was part of WW-P South’s top line that included leading scorer Jeff Katz. Reece provided 29 points as a sophomore with 17 goals and 12 assists. With his output Monday, Reece is already at 16 goals and six assists through just 12 games.
"I knew I had to put some pucks in the net," Reece said. "I’m an upperclassmen now. I want to be more of a leader. I try to do that too."
Reece’s continued development has the Pirates in better position to make the states. It also takes some pressure off Jeff Katz and makes WW-P South’s offense tougher to stop. It’s just what the team needs out of Reece.
"It’s the second year in a row that he’s improved in point total," said South head coach Brian McGurney. "He’s put some size on. He’s gotten bigger. He played with Katz last year and is back with him this year. Will Dzugan is also on their line.
"Jon knows the competition. He knows who he’s going to be up against. He has a good idea of what each team brings to the table. He’s one of those guys who you don’t notice every shift. He reminds me of Adam Perry from a couple years ago. He’s very smart. He plays his position so well. He’s on the score sheet so he has to be doing something right."
After his freshman year, Reece went to work to try to improve his conditioning, strength and speed. He knew it would help him as a player, but also he knew it would help him become a better teammate.
"Freshman year, I was a little out of shape and chubby," he said. "I tried to get a little bigger and faster, just so I could keep up with Jeff.
"It makes it a lot easier playing with him," he added. "He carries the team. It’s very easy to play with him. He moves the puck well. We play pretty well together. We move the puck back and forth. It’s easy to move up and down the ice and set up shop. He makes my job a lot easier."
Katz had six points in the win over Ewing. At the other end of the ice, the sixth-seeded Pirates tried to limit No. 11 Ewing’s chances and that enabled their other Jeff Katz, the goaltender, to come up with a shutout. With the win, the Pirates advance to meet No. 3 seed Hopewell Valley on Feb. 20 in the MCT quarterfinals.
"Ricky Hunt (the goaltender) from Ewing, I thought he played a good game," McGurney said. "You get two or three past him on a good day and you’ve accomplished something. For the most part, our guys looked good. How do you complain about 8-0?"
In other MCT first-round action, No. 12 WW-P North lost to No. 5 Notre Dame, 10-1, Wednesday. The Knights fell to 2-9-2 with the loss, and will play Notre Dame again Wednesday in a Colonial Valley Conference regular-season game. Scott Martin scored the Knights’ lone goal in defeat at the end of the first period. Notre Dame advances to take on top-seeded PHS, which had a first-round bye until Feb. 20.
While the Knights won’t have the opportunity to reach the state tournament with just five games left before the Feb. 13 cutoff, they have the chance to be a spoiler for such teams as WW-P South, which they will face just days before the cutoff. They will take on a rival team that McGurney believes is starting to play its best hockey of the season.
"You look at the Notre Dame game, and we lose, 7-1," he said. "But I didn’t have too much to complain about. The way the guys played, Notre Dame is a good team. I wasn’t unhappy with the way we played. It’s not too often you hear a coach say he was all right with a 7-1 loss. It’s the smaller things that we’re starting to do. We’re starting to come together as a team. Hopefully it’s not just a smoke screen. It’s time to start coming together with the state cutoff being Feb. 13. We have a couple games between now and then.
"We play the type of game we’re capable of and we’re back in the state tournament. That’s was one of the goals we set. You get there and who knows what could happen."
Reece and the Pirates are looking at the convincing county win as a stepping stone to the state tournament. The sort of effort they gave against Ewing is the same that they will need to reach the state tournament. It was a confidence boost.
"The Ewing game, we played pretty well," Reece said. "We moved the puck well. We capitalized on our opportunities. And we played defense pretty well. We got off to the start we wanted to.
"We really wanted to win this game so we could move on. Basically all we have is counties and maybe states. This was a big game and we wanted to come out and win and we did."
Reece credits part of the improving play of the Pirates to adjusting to playing with the newcomers to the team. WW-P South is starting to mesh just in time for a postseason run.
"One of the big keys is we have to win our conference games, games that will assure us we’ll get into the state tournament," Reece said. "We have to play our game and come out with a couple victories and make it to states."
Making states is the goal every team sets. WW-P South has had its share of up and down games. The Pirates are hoping that Monday’s dominant performance is something they can sustain as they head into the most important part of the year.