What to watch for in today’s MCT quarterfinal games
The two Mercer County Tournament quarterfinal games set for Wednesday should prove very interesting as you have Andrew Ducko’s return behind the bench and a West Windsor-Plainsboro Co-op team that has been full of surprises.
Paul VI/Camden Catholic will be looking to spoil Ducko’s return and Princeton will be trying to avoid WW-P’s upset attempt at the Mercer County Skating Center.
Here’s a look at both games
No. 6 Paul VI/Camden Catholic (5-8-3) vs No. 3 Lawrenceville B (5-1-3), 4 p.m.
Andrew Ducko, the former MCT winning coach at Notre Dame, brings a Lawrenceville team that has gained the third seed and looking to make some noise.
Then you have Paul VI/Camden Catholic that has played one of the toughest schedules and will be looking to capitalize on that experience.
These two teams met back in the early days of season and played to a 3-3 tie.
“From our first regular season matchup, and the scrimmage their goalie will be strong and they have a very strong top line,” said Ducko. “We have played a few tough games recently, and our players were up to the challenge. We now have multiple players scoring, strong defense, and strong goaltending.”
Charlie Hall, Paul VI/Camden Catholic coach believes his troops have improved since that December meeting.
“I believe we are a better team than we were in December,” said Hall. “Recently, we’ve learned what it means to play for each other and give a full effort for three periods. We are dealing with some injuries to some key players; we’re not sure if they’ll be back in time for the MCT. However, everyone has stepped up their play the last couple games and I think we put it all together our last game against Lawrence.”
This is a veteran Paul VI/Camden Catholic team and through grueling conference schedule and the battles for the Egan Cup experience will go a long way in the tournament.
“I think playing the schedule that we have this season helps tremendously,” admitted Hall. “We’ve seen a lot of good teams and we’ve seen the level that we have to play at in order to be successful. I look to our two games against Montclair Kimberley Academy. The first game was not very good and we found playing the game difficult in a 7-0 loss. Our second game was much more competitive and the team gave everything. We lost 2-1, but we played a full three periods. I thought we were the better team overall that game, we just couldn’t find that tying goal.”
Ducko knows what his Big Red team has to do to combat the talent of PVI/CC.
“We need to play positionally well, backchecking with a purpose, and making smart decisions with the puck,” said Ducko.
Both teams are coming in with purpose and a lot of resolve.
“We truly believe we can win this tournament,” stated Hall. “The team is also going to play with a chip on its shoulder because we won the Valley Division, yet got seeded below Hamilton who we beat for the division. The team wasn’t happy about that,”
A little locker room fodder never hurts.
BY THE NUMBERS GOALS >>
CJ Compagnola (PVI/CC) 16, Steve Gresch (PVI/CC) 12, Joey Plumley (PVI/CC) 10, Nathan Luo
(LAW) 8, Colin Gordon (LAW) 6, Jack Throwbridge (LAW) 6 ASSISTS >> Compagnola (PVI/CC) 17, Gresch (PVI/CC) 17, Patrick Kelly (LAW) 8, Luo (LAW) 7, Colin Gordon (LAW) 5
SAVES >> Ben McCormick (LAW) 91.53%, Jake Lenox (PVI/CC 89.40%, Anthony Russel (LAW) 88.07%
No. 7 West WindsorPlainsboro Co-op (6-8) vs No. 2 Princeton 11-6-1), 6 p.m.
There was a point this season when Princeton was 4-4 and appeared to be struggling.
Well, its not struggling anymore as they have gone 7-2-1 since those mediocre days.
WW-P has had an unpredictable year, one game they’re beating the likes of Paul VI/Camden Catholic and Notre Dame and then there are days they just don’t play well.
“Our MCT game against WWP last year can be used as additional motivation,” said Princeton coach Rik Johnson. “They had us on the ropes right up until the end.”
The Tigers needed a four-goal third period to pull out the win in 2022 and knows how it can make it tough again.
“We know how to beat them, the tricky part is to stick to our systems and outworking our opponents,” said WW-P coach Andy
Borowsky. “When we have a full team, we tend to rise to the occasion. It’s been difficult to play so many games this season without a full roster.”
Hopefully, WW-P will have a full team, but on the other hand the Princeton seniors feel they have a few things to take care of.
“This is the farewell tour for the seniors,” said Johnson. “We have some unfinished business from last year.”
Last year, the Tigers lost in the MCT final to Notre Dame and then dropped the opening round of the state tournament.
One thing both teams have is great leadership, WW-P with Bennett Seigel, Kai Inoue, Jonah Levy and goalie Muhamad NadE-Ali and Princeton has seniors Cooper Zullo, Ethan Garlock, Julian Drezner and Gabe Silverstein.
Johnson’s has a pretty good game plan.
“We need to have fun, execute & play our game,” said the Tigers’ first-year coach. “This tournament, and even the NJSIAA tournament are wild cards. Whoever wants it most, wins.”
BY THE NUMBERS
GOALS >> Cooper Zullo (P) 27, Ethan Garlock (P) 11, Kai Inoue (WW-P) 11, Jonah Levy (WW-P) 8. ASSISTS >> Garlock (P) 21, Inoue (WW-P) 16, TT Zhao (P) 15, Brendan Beatty (P) 15, Levy (WW-P) 11. SAVES >> Noah Vitulli (P) 81.7%, Nad E-Ali 89.4%