The PDS vs. Lawrenceville Boys Ice Hockey Game

Photo+courtesy+of+PDS+Flickr

Photo courtesy of PDS Flickr

Hart Nowakoski, Online Staff Writer

Following a two-year COVID-19 induced hiatus, the annual hockey game between Princeton Day School and The Lawrenceville School took place on January 19, at Lisa McGraw Skating Rink. Last year, the two teams were lucky enough to be able to play at Princeton University’s Hobey Baker Rink, but due to COVID-19, PDS was forced to host the game with a limited fan capacity this year. This restriction did not, however, take away from the excitement of the PDS community surrounding the event. On the day of the game, students showed up to school donning PDS-themed outfits. In the halls, classrooms, and even during the short time in the morning when people started to flood the school before first period began, there was a buzz of anticipation for the upcoming game. At long last, the ice was cut and students paraded up to the Athletic Center in waves, walking into the rink with decorated signs and shouting words of encouragement. Everyone in the building finally knew the game had started when the music came on, and the players rushed out onto the glistening sheet of ice.

The first period of the game was fast-paced, filled with energy propelled by the fans and players. Senior goaltender Timothy Miller was able to block out a few close opportunities, while at the other end sophomore forward Liam Jackson and junior Oliver Hall both had very close scoring chances. Eager to gain the lead, PDS came out with intensity and played another strong ten minutes of hockey in the second period; however, halfway through the period, the Panthers gave up an unlucky breakaway goal. Despite the setback, fans in the stands continued to support the players with chants, screams, shouts, and songs, rooting for their Panthers.  As junior Blake Carmody stated, “The crowd is super fun to be a part of and it’s great to cheer on a team as one group. We all love cheering for our classmates!” That being said, before the end of the period, Lawrenceville put in another goal with four minutes left on the clock to put them up 2-0.

When the Panthers came out for the third period, it was evident they had started to run out of energy. The team still came out with intensity and grit, but with a much smaller team compared to Lawrenceville, PDS wasn’t able to secure any goals and match the speed or physicality of Big Red; by the end of the third period, Lawrenceville had put in another two goals, securing their victory at 4-0. Of course, while this wasn’t the outcome the team had hoped for, they were still proud of their performance. As starting defenseman sophomore Han Shin puts it, “I thought we played a solid first two periods, but we ran out of gas in the third. We had a lot of chances to score but weren’t able to capitalize, and I’m looking forward to playing them again next year.” Although this year was slightly disappointing, fans should look forward to the next time the two meet–as the Panthers are still a young team and have room to grow.