Charity game draws large crowd
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
LAWRENCEVILLE — Liam Corbett’s biggest goal of his career won West Windsor-Plainsboro North the Bachner Cup, 4-3, over sister school WW-P South on Saturday night.
The Knights junior almost didn’t have the chance. On his first shift of the third period, Corbett went down with a wrist injury. After icing his wrist and getting his stick hand taped, he netted the game-winner over Pirates standout goalie Jon Plester on his first shift back with 2:43 to play.
”Eddie (Accetta) wrapped around and took a shot,” Corbett said. “I was crashing and I saw the rebound came out so I reached out as far as I could and backhanded it. I saw Plester coming over, so I tried to shoot it high and it went over his stick.
”I thought it was pretty big. At the Bachner game, it was pretty big.”
The goal kept the Knights unbeaten in Bachner Cup play. It’s the third straight season that North and South have held a game to honor David J. Bachner, the WW-P North graduate who passed away tragically Aug. 11, 2009, after a record-setting career as a pitcher for the Knight baseball team. The gate receipts from the packed house were donated to the David J. Bachner Memorial Fund to benefit underprivileged athletes, provide community scholarships and support local charities.
”This is the biggest it’s been,” said David’s mother, Rhonda Bachner. “It’s been getting bigger every year. It’s nice to see.”
Rhonda and her husband, Steve, were on hand for the ceremonial puck drop as well as the presentation of the Bachner Cup after the conclusion of the exciting game.
”It’s great,” Rhonda said. “There’s a whole new group that’s gotten to know who David was.”
Bachner was a hockey fan, and would have been thrilled to see the way the Knights rallied for the win. WW-P North jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Marc Kolber and Matthew Strober barely four minutes into the game, and appeared headed for an easy win before the Pirates called a time out.
”More than anything, we took the time out to just slow them down,” said Pirates head coach Laurent Lassance. “They were excited about the game. We called time out to get them to realize about the game plan, and do what we’re telling you to do and execute what we’re asking you to do.”
It worked as the Pirates responded with the next three goals. Chris Clancey made it 2-1 before the end of the first period, then assisted on Brian Tso’s equalizer early in the second period before Clancey put WW-P South on top, 3-2, with a goal with 4:14 left in the second period.
”They started doing it better and obviously scored three goals in a row and had the momentum going into the third period and they were hanging on,” Lassance said. “That fourth goal was bad luck. Both our defenders caught edges and fell. And they scored on the power play, which we almost came out of.”
Midway through the final period, WW-P North’s Greg Olsson knotted the game, 3-3, with just 10 seconds left on a power play. Joe Bensky and Kolber, who finished with a goal and two assists, were credited with assists. That set the tone for the heroics of Corbett, who is part of a second line that is usually counted on to defend, not score.
”We count on them to hold down the other team’s first line whenever that’s possible,” Knights coach Bob Weiss said. “But Liam has scored a couple of important goals. He’s had a few. He sticks his nose in there.”
Corbett came through with his biggest goal of the season to help the Knights improve to 8-5-1 with the cutoff for the state tournament approaching.
”Going in, we knew we couldn’t really pay attention to the crowd,” Corbett said. “We knew it was just another game we had to win to get in states and go up in our rankings. When we came out, the crowd did get to our head. We finally settled down.
”We’re feeling pretty good,” he added. “We went to a tournament over winter break, and we got a little setback with two looses there. Now that we’re coming back, we’re feeling good and think we’re going to go pretty far.”
Corbett was happy to help out in a big spot. He got a goal Saturday, but he’s willing to help any way he can.
”I’m getting a lot more shifts than last year,” Corbett said. “Our second line is more of make-sure-they-don’t-score line. It’s kind of dump and chase, keep it in their zone. That’s mine and my linemates’ job.”
If they get bonus contributions from players like Corbett, the Knights will be in very good shape. WW-P North has enough scoring punch with one of the top skaters in Kolber and some solid passing forwards. The Knights had the better of the possession, which finally paid off in the end of the third period.
”It was how much pressure could they take,” Weiss said. “Even though they were ahead, we were in their zone three-quarters of the time. Their goaltender is fantastic.
”You have to screen that goalie. He’s excellent. You just can’t beat him if he sees the puck.”
After the early goals, Plester did not let anything past him for the next 34 minutes as WW-P South took the lead. He was credited with 46 saves. In addition to Clancey, who had a big night with two goals and assist, the Pirates got assists from Alex Mangone and Jon Matthews.
”They played hard,” said Lassance, whose team was scheduled to see North again Monday in a game that counts for the Colonial Valley Conference standings. “They’re going to learn from their mistakes. They have to improve from here on in. That’s all they can do. They have to improve from their mistakes. I know they have a bad taste in their mouth, because I do. I didn’t like the way they went out, because they knew it’s their game to win.”
Instead, it was the Knights who came back to retain the Bachner Cup. They won it the first year, then tied South last year.
”It’s so wonderful,” Weiss said. “It’s great from both schools. And these are always great games. It was a tie last year. Even when we play them in the regular season, it always comes right down to the end.
”We play these guys Monday. I think it means as much to the parents as anyone else. Our freshmen who are seniors now, they’re the last class to actually know Bachner. There’s still an affinity for that kid. He touched so many people.”
Winning the Bachner Cup was important to WW-P North. The Knights showed some resolve to come back to keep it at their school.
”It seemed like everyone stepped up and seemed to play a lot better,” Corbett said. “It was a really big win.”