On January 23, the PDS Varsity Boys Ice Hockey team battled it out against Lawrenceville at Princeton University’s Hobey Baker Ice Rink. Heading into the game, the Lawrenceville team was ranked first place in the Mid-Atlantic Hockey League while PDS ranked fifth. Despite this, the Panthers played with the utmost effort throughout the game. The day was full of excitement and great enthusiasm, and the rink was packed with many students from both PDS and Lawrenceville who stood cheering on their respective teams. Zoo leader and senior Charlotte Haggerty reflects on the game, saying, “I was proud of the number of people [that came]. It shows how tight we are as a community and how supportive we are of each other.” 

The game started with Lawrenceville scoring their first goal in the middle of the first period. Haggerty noted, “we started off the game 1-0, and I think there were some doubts going into the second period. We also had three penalties in the second period.” According to Haggerty, this meant that “the other team [had] more of a scoring opportunity, [and] our chances of scoring were much less.” Despite this initial setback, our Panthers stood their ground. Shortly after, junior Gibson Linnehan scored the first goal for PDS, and the crowd went wild, resulting in a wave of cheer and enthusiastic support for our panthers filling the rink. This led to a 1-1 tie going into the second period.

Though the tie was broken once when Lawrenceville scored its second goal, PDS quickly caught up, causing the game to go into overtime with a score of 2-2. Haggerty reflects, “Third period was a hard fought battle, and overtime was back and forth very closely [between the two teams].” 

Two minutes and 47 seconds into overtime, the Panther excitement truly sparked. Senior player Chris Cecila made the final shot, breaking the tie that had left many on the edge of their seats in the third period. The crowd went wild. Cheers erupted through the air, as joy and pride descended upon the PDS side of the stands. The Panthers had earned the title of 2020 hockey champions. As Haggerty further notes, “it was a great game.”