PDS gets fourth chance against Gloucester Catholic quarterfinals

Playing in the Gordon Conference brings many challenges in the regular season. Not only is it grueling slate of games, there is the Gordon Cup and then there’s the chance you may meet in the state tournament.

Through each of those steps the Princeton Day ice hockey team has come across Gloucester Catholic. Twice in the regular season, in the Gordon Cup and now they meet on Monday in a state Non-Public Quarterfinal at 3:30 p.m. at Hollydell Arena.

It should be a classic as No. 5 Princeton Day (7-103) looks to turn the tide against No. 4 Gloucester Catholic (8-8-2).

This is a relatively new rivalry as the Panthers won the first three meetings, the first meeting this year was a 5-5 tie and the next two went to the Rams, 8-2 and 7-3.

“We’re very familiar with Gloucester Catholic and their style of play, which has proven to be very challenging for us to play against this year,” said PDS coach Scott Bertoli. “But we know what to expect and understand what’s needed to slow them down.”

The Panthers got a boost in the first round with a 5-2 win over MorristownBeard.

Prior to the win, the Panthers had lost six straight and were 0-7-1 over the final stretch with their last win coming on Jan. 12 over Pingry.

“Obviously, it’s been a while since we’ve won a game,” stated Bertoli. “So that was great for our kids to experience that feeling again. Hopefully we can build off of the fact we finally found a way to win a tight game late in the 3rd, it’s something we’ve struggled with the 2nd half of the season.””

During the six game skid, PDS was outscored in the third period by almost 10 goals. But it was the Panthers doing the damage in the third against Mo-Beard and they’d love to be able to start quickly and finish smartly.

Freshman Brady Logue had a team high 11 goals and junior Liam Jackson has 10 goals and a team high 20 assists. Will Brown, a senior, has three goals and 10 assists, junior Riley Schmidt has four and eight and junior Han Shin has eight and four.

Sophomore Cole Fenton and junior Mason Watson both have been capable between the pipes.

“Like most teams, we’re better and more confident when we play from in front,” said Bertoli. “It allows us to get more players involved.”

Gloucester Catholic, which has split the last four games, has four players with double digits in goals.

Senior Billy Sheridan has 14 goals and 15 assists, senior Mike Hoffner has 12 goals and 11 assists, junior TJ Pisano, who has three goals and four assists against the Panthers, has 11 goals and 15 helpers and senior Casey Johnson has 10 and eight.

Billy Stuski, a junior, has a 90.6 save percentage.

Bertoli is well aware of the offensive capabilities of the Rams.

“We need to be very responsible defensively against their top line,” said Bertoli. “They thrive on the rush so our ability to limit those chances will go a long way in dictating whether we can have success or not on Monday. We’ve gotten caught up in trying to play “their” game all three times we’ve played them this year, so hopefully we’ve learned some hard lessons from that and stick to what we need to do to be successful.”

The fourth time just might be the charm.