As Non-Public playoffs begin, PDS looking to snap out of funk
Princeton Day School and Morristown-Beard are very familiar with each other in athletic endeavors, from the battles for Prep B titles, and now the rivalry has another venue in the NJSIAA state tournament.
The two face off on Wednesday in the Non-Public bracket at the Panthers McGraw Rink at 5:15 in the first round.
PDS (6-10-3) is the No. 5 seed and the Crimson (10-12) is seeded 12th.
The two met in January and the Princeton Day took a 5-1 win.
“MBS is a team we had some success against back in January,” said PDS coach Scott Bertoli. “So, with our recent struggles, I’m hopeful our kids will find some confidence in that earlier result and be excited to get the State tournament started.”
Yes, the Panthers are struggling.
They have dropped six straight and have not won since a 6-1 victory over Pingry on Jan. 12.
“We need to score more and defend as a group better,” stated Bertoli, of the PDS problems. “For long stretches in the majority of our recent games we’ve outplayed, outshot and outchanced teams, and in some recent games, quite significantly. Yet, we continue to struggle to find the back of the net and can’t seem to make the timely saves when needed. So, we’ve found ourselves playing from behind, chasing the scoreboard, and ultimately getting away from playing good, sound hockey.”
It has been that good, sound hockey that has been the trademark of Bertoli teams and it’ll be that grind it out effort that will get them past the Mo-Beard.
During the losing streak, the Panthers have been outscored, 35-8 and they have only scored 53 all season.
Junior Liam Jackson leads PDS with 10 goals and 18 assists, freshman Brady Logue has nine goals and nine assists, junior Han Shin has seven goals and junior Riley Schmidt and sophomore Wyatt Ewanchyna each have eight helpers.
Sophomore Calvin Fenton has an 82.7 save percentage and junior Mason Watson has a percentage of 86.2.
Morristown-Beard, who dropped a 5-1 decision to PDS earlier, is led by Hollis Humphries with 25 goals and 26 assists, freshman Ryan Tartaglione has seven goals and 22 assists, sophomore Nick Squashic has 12 goals and six assists.
The Crimson, who have split the last four games, have sophomore Casey Connor with a 92.5 save percentage and Julian Melendez with a 88.5 save percentage.
“They’ve got a solid goaltender (Connor) who kept the game relatively close back in January, and like Hun, Gloucester Catholic and some others we’ve faced of late, we know that a hot goalie can spell trouble for us,” declared Bertoli. “So, we’ll look to put tons of pucks on net and hopefully score early to settle things down and play from in front.”
PDS has won the last two meetings with MorristownBeard and there’s no better way to snap out of a slump that to face a team you know you have beaten and no better time than the state tournament.