HEADS UP PLAY: Princeton High boys’ hockey player Anders Hedin controls the puck last Friday as PHS faced the Hopewell Valley/Montgomery Co-op in its season opener. Senior forward and team co-captain Hedin tallied two goals in the game as the foes skated to a 5-5 tie. PHS plays Robbinsville on December 12 and South Brunswick on December 16 with both games taking place at the Mercer County Skating Center. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
Anders Hedin was fired up to get his final season for the Princeton High boys’ hockey team underway as it faced the Hopewell Valley/Montgomery Co-op in its season opener last Friday.
“I have been waiting all year, I played club since August,” said senior forward and co-captain Hedin, who plays for the Princeton Youth Hockey Association (PYHA) U-18 squad.
“It is not the same as high school. Some of these guys are my great friends but I don’t get to play with them until I am here.”
While Hedin and his teammates came out firing in the first period, generating a number of scoring chances, they found themselves trailing 2-0 after the first period.
In the second period, sophomore standout Abe Arshan broke the ice, scoring a goal and then assisting on a tally by Liam Campbell to help PHS narrow the deficit to 3-2.
“It definitely got us going,” said Hedin, referring to Arshan’s tally. “We tell defensemen to be patient and be decisive but not throw the puck away. He looked and he made a decision as he saw an opening and he just tucked it in.”
With PHS trailing 4-3 heading into the third, Hedin sensed that the Tigers were primed to carry play down the stretch.
“We felt we had momentum, in the third period we took over,” said Hedin. “Our coach (Rik Johnson) skates us a lot during preseason, it is something we look forward to. We just outlasted them physically, our conditioning 100 percent showed. We were able to keep hitting and doing well even when we were getting tired and they were getting more tired.”
Hedin hit his stride in the period, scoring two unanswered goals as PHS took a 5-4 lead.
“On my first goal, I just saw a wide open point,” said Hedin. “PJ Ross is definitely a kid who can shoot and can handle the puck so I sat myself in front of the net and the puck came to me. The second was another one where Abe had a nice look right up the middle. He had two very similar passes that led to goals.”
Although PHS yielded a goal with 3:03 left in regulation as HoVal/Montgomery forced overtime and the foes ultimately skated to a 5-5 tie, Hedin saw the opening day effort as a confidence builder for the Tigers.
“The goals we gave up were on some quick mess-ups and ended up costing us,” said Hedin. “I don’t think the score really reflected the way we played. We were definitely all over them, especially in the third period. If we clear up things at the beginning of the game, we could definitely win those close games.”
PHS head coach Rik Johnson liked the progress his team displayed as it learned some lessons from a loss in a scrimmage to Brick earlier in the week. “The first period seemed like a feeling out process,” said Johnson. “We wanted to respond better, just minimizing mistakes from Brick. We were going off of that. The first half of the second period was pretty strong and then we tailed off a little bit.”
Like Hedin, Johnson saw the performance by PHS in the tie as a positive.
“To be down and go up and be down, I think they can pull away with their heads high on this,” said Johnson, whose team built a 39-20 edge in shots on goal. “It was good.”
Junior goalie Peter Pessutti came up big as he made some key saves late in the contest.
“Peter surprised both coach [Cliff] Higgins and I with his play here,” said Johnson of Pessutti, who ended up with 15 saves on the day. “We saw that Peter was ready and that he can play.”
The Tigers got some good play from sophomore forwards Arshan and Baptiste Demurge along with sophomore defensemen Sam Gibb and PJ Ross.
“Abe is strong, he is a dog,” added Johnson. “I think Baptiste had a nice game. Sam and PJ are very sound. That is what we tell them, stay conservative.”
The trio of senior forwards Hedin, Campbell, and Ryan Garlock provided production and leadership.
“Anders, Soup (Campbell) and Ryan are leading the team as they should,” said Johnson. “Anders is willing to do the physical thing. He is willing to finesse it if he needs to.”
Hedin and his classmates are trying to follow in the footsteps of the senior group that led PHS when they were in their first season with the program.
“In our freshman year we were on a team that was super good,” said Hedin. “We were a good class but we barely played because our seniors were so astonishingly good. We definitely learned a lot about how they approached the game, especially from an off-ice perspective. They were very serious about their warm-ups, about hard work and hitting.”
Reflecting on the tie in the opener, Hedin saw that serious approach.
“I think we definitely are working like that,” said Hedin. “I saw a lot of big hits from a lot of people. Being willing to take a hit is also a big part of it.”