By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
With an 8-5-2 record as it heads past the midpoint of the season, the Princeton Day School boys ice hockey team is having a good season., But Scott Bertoli thinks the Panthers can be even better., “I think we are getting a lot of solid play from players who need to be better in big games,” the PDS coach said after his team fell, 4-1, to the Hill School on Wednesday. “That’s something we just talked about in the locker room. I look at the big games and I look at the Delbartons and the Don Boscos and we need our big guys to step up., “If you go back and look back at my comments before the season, I thought we would be challenged to score. And in these bigger games we have been. Delbarton was 1-0. In this game we score one goal. Bosco we scored two goals. I think our play, for the most part, has been pretty consistent. I’d just like to see more our of our top guys. As an athlete you want to thrive in the big moments.”, PDS was 6-1-1 in its prior eight games heading into a first-place showdown with Hill. The Panthers trailed, 2-1, entering the third period but could never get even as Hill added a pair of late goals to make it a 4-1 final., “I don’t think the score is indicative of the game,” said Bertoli, whose team is now 2-1 in Mid Atlantic Hockey League play. “I thought it was a great game. They are always hard to play against. I thought their kid in net was outstanding. In a couple key situations he made big saves to kind of keep momentum and the scoreboard in their favor.”, The Panthers had their chances to get even and controlled play for much of the start of the third period. But other than a first period goal from Jack Mascali they could not find the back of the net., “We had a four minute power play,” Bertoli lamented. “Our so-called first unit went out there and we don’t want to dump the puck, we don’t want to outnumber them, we don’t want to do a lot f things that allow us to be successful. I thought our second unit went out there and moved the puck around and generated some scoring opportunities. But that’s deflating when you can’t go out and capitalize on an opportunity like that. You’re not necessarily going to score, but to maintain pressure and generate opportunities, that was big at that point.”, Even after failing to score with the four minute advantage PDS still had opportunities as goaltender Logan Kramsky made 28 saves to keep them in the game., “I thought we hung in there and played a good game,” Bertoli said. “We had a ton of opportunities late in the game as well where if the puck bounces our way or we beat a kid we score. And then (number) 22 scores off the faceoff and you should never give up a goal like that. That was very deflating.”, The Panthers go on the road this weekend to play at Northfield-Mount Herman on Friday and Pomfret on Sunday before hosting La Salle in another huge MAHL game on Wednesday. Bertoli is most interested in seeing his team move forward., “I’m not worried about the scoreboard,” he said. “I’m disappointed with the result. I thought we played hard. But we left a lot out there. Our goaltending is outstanding. Logan is as good as it gets. I think, unfortunately, today their guy matched him. He was excellent. He kept momentum in their favor.”
