By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The West Windsor-Plainsboro High ice hockey team had plenty to work out early in the season., The programs from WW-P North and WW-P South were combined into one, which meant the players from both had to get used to playing with each other. A 1-6-1 start didn’t bode well for a strong initial campaign, but the team overcame that slow start and wound up putting together a strong first season as a combined unit., WW-P, which fell just short of qualifying for the upcoming state tournament, earned a No. 5 seed for the Mercer County Tournament, falling to fourth-seeded Robbinsville, 7-1, on Wednesday night. The loss left WW-P with a 9-12-2 record heading into Saturday’s season finale against Hopewell Valley., “We didn’t expect to be this good,” senior captain Nikolai Yershov said. “But we made it work. We fit together puzzle pieces and that helped our game. In the beginning of the season we said that we wanted to make our record presentable at the end of the year to show everyone in our district that a combined hockey team was not a bad thing. And I think, in retrospect, we accomplished that., “After our slow start we sat down and told ourselves we’ve got to pick it up to make it presentable and that’s what we did.”, WW-P put together a solid stretch of games to get to 9-9-2 before dropping its last three contests. But a win in the finale against Hopewell could get the team to 10 wins., “That would be awesome,” senior assistant captain Jeremy Wong said. “Coming from where we started until now, I know we had a tough couple of games but I think we can hold our heads high., “Overall, since the start until now, I think we came together as a team. We bonded and it was great playing with these guys.”, WW-P trailed just 2-0 against Robbinsville after one period. But in the end they could muster just one goal by Tyler Shankoff against a talented Ravens defense. But even with the loss in the MCT, the team finished the season knowing it had laid the groundwork for future success for the combined program., “Hockey brings everyone together, that’s the beauty of the game,” Yershov said. “I think we learned to play better as a team and overcome some things. I think we had a good start and it is going to keep getting better every year now.”, Added Wong: “Even though we’re rival schools, it’s just hockey. We overcame that difference and played our best and tried our hardest.”, And by going 8-6-1 after the slow start, the team has a bright future., “We’re only graduating three seniors,” WW-P co-coach Laurent Lassance said. “So there will be a good amount of kids coming back next year. They just need to work on their skills in the offseason. And from what I understand, there is a good group of kids moving up from the middle schools that all play travel.”, While WW-P was eliminated from the MCT, top-seeded Princeton and seventh-seeded Hun remained alive. Princeton is scheduled to face eighth-seeded Paul VI on Friday, with the winner advancing to face Robbinsville in the semifinals. Hun, which opened the tournament with a 7-1 win over Pennington on Tuesday, topped second-seeded Lawrence, 7-0, on Wednesday., In the Raiders’ win over Lawrence, Kyle Mandleur scored a pair of goals to pace the offense. Jackson Cole made six saves to pick up the shutout in goal. Mandleur had three goals and Nick Aubry scored twice in the win over Pennington. Hun, which improved to 6-15 with the two wins, will face either third-seeded Notre Dame or sixth-seeded Hopewell Valley in the semifinals on Feb. 14.
