This week brings the opening of the Hopewell Valley Central High School ice hockey season and the introduction of the new, merged hockey team with Hopewell Valley and Montgomery high schools. Ice hockey is that rare sport at the high school level that is co-educational; of the 30 players, two are girls.
In recent years, high schools in New Jersey have seen fewer players registering to play hockey. In response, co-op programs have become more prevalent throughout the State and are now well-accepted in Mercer County. West Windsor-Plainsboro has one team for both North and South, Robbinsville and Allentown have joined together, and there is even one team representing three schools, Lawrence, Ewing and Hightstown.
Both Hopewell Valley and Montgomery graduated more seniors last year than the number of incoming freshman wanting to play ice hockey. Head coach Jeff Radice said, “This co-op has given us the opportunity to unite two communities and grow the sport in the area. This gives us the chance to develop kids who may not get the opportunity to be varsity contributors right away.”
The varsity team had two scrimmages this past week. On Wednesday, they played at Old Bridge. Trent Demers, Michael Boyer, Cal Fleming and Roman Vitolo scored, beating Old Bridge 4-1. Freshman Ryan Morici was in goal. On Friday, with Derek Doldy in goal, the team hosted West Windsor -Plainsboro. Lucas Gaissert, Joe Greenspoon, Harsh Grover, Michael Boyer, Roman Vitolo, and Sean Amon scored, ending with a final score of 8-1 -Tracy Vogler
For this week’s upcoming HVRSD games, see the schedule here: https://www.colonialvalleyconference.org/public/genie/348/school/7/
If you would like to contribute sports reporting or game photographs to MercerMe, please send an email to tracy@mercerme.com.
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