Ewing Township is not really considered an ice hockey hotbed, but don’t tell that to the Notre Dame High School team.
The Irish, who have been to the Mercer County Tournament finals the past two years and got off to a 4-1 start this season, have five Ewing residents contributing this year.
Senior Stephen Patas is a veteran defenseman teamed with senior Greg Larovere on the blue line. Tommy Nemec is a senior forward, playing his third year on varsity, while senior Hunter Guenzel and sophomore Daulton Bennett are also contributing in their first seasons on varsity.
“It really shows the talent we have coming out of Ewing,” Patas said. “A lot of people don’t think we have hockey in Ewing but we have a lot of good players.”
Patas is an assistant captain who has been on the team since his freshman season. Coach Andrew Ducko considers him the Irish’s top defenseman, but gives him added responsibilities as well.
“He’ll play forward and defense,” Ducko said. “He can score goals. He’s on our first power play unit, our first penalty kill. He’s been a top four defenseman on our team almost since his freshman year.”
Patas’ biggest attribute is his strength and physicality. It enables him to go strong into the corners and compete hard in front of the net. He’s been one of the Irish’s top two defensemen the past two years.
“He’s unselfish with the puck and he’s really strong with his stick, he has a really hard shot,” Ducko said. “He’s probably our anchor as a defenseman.”
Patas began playing at age 5 and started travel hockey with the Lawrence Flames before moving to the Princeton Tigers. He moved back to the Flames last year in order to play with most of his Notre Dame teammates.
He got interested in hockey from watching his cousin play for the Mercer Chiefs and Ewing High School. Asked his first impressions of being on the ice, Patas gave a logical response by noting “I don’t really remember, but I imagine I liked it a lot because I’m still playing.”
He actually started as a forward, but volunteered to play defense in travel when a teammate was injured. He came to Notre Dame as a defenseman.
“I like playing defense better because of the way I play,” Patas said. “I’m a better defenseman than forward. It’s about making simple plays and not trying to do anything too fancy, just clear the puck out of the zone.”
Ducko plans on pairing Larovere with Patas often this year, which is fine with Larovere.
“He motivates us, he gets us to laugh at bad times,” Larovere said. “He’s a really good kid, he always gets you to smile. He’s serious at times but he’s always talking to us, keeping our heads in the game.”
Patas has a simplistic approach to being a leader.
“I just try to play good solid D and lead by example,” he said. “When we don’t have such a good day at practice or after a loss, we need to get re-focused on the next game instead of worrying about what happened in the past.”
Because Patas and Larovere have known each other for a long time, there is a nice chemistry on the ice when they’re paired together.
“It helps out a lot because you have a trust with the other person,” Patas said. “He’s been doing extremely well, I’m really surprised at how he’s playing.”
Larovere started playing “as soon as I could walk” as his father was a club hockey player and got him interested. He started club hockey with the Mercer Chiefs before moving to the Flames.
He has paid his dues at Notre Dame, finally getting regular varsity shifts this season.
“He was our captain on JV the last two years,” Ducko said. “He’s a really good kid. He works hard, comes to the rink every day with a great attitude. He’s a hard working guy. He keeps it simple and does what he’s told. It’s huge to have defensemen like that because he adds depth to the team.”
Larovere has enjoyed every minute of his varsity time so far, saying there have been a few jokes at his expense but that the veterans have been very accepting. Unlike Patas, Larovere grew up as a defenseman.
His philosophy for being a strong blue liner is “keeping everything in front of you, communicating, making sure everything’s in line. Keeping on the point, getting the puck out on D, simple defensive stuff. I just try to play smart, use my teammates. I can’t play without them. I just play physical and play my game.”
Ducko feels that Larovere accomplishes everything he sets out to do by staying within himself.
“He’s been playing hockey a long time, and he comes to the rink ready to go,” the coach said. “He plays his position properly. He’s not super strong, he’s not super fast, he just plays his position the way he’s supposed to and keeps it simple.”
Nemec is also a key ingredient to this year’s team. After collecting five goals and six assists last year, the senior had four goals and two assists in the season’s first two games.
“His sophomore and junior years he was a third line center and brought a lot of depth to our team,” Ducko said. “He went out and performed some very important penalty kill roles. This year he’s moved on to a scoring role. He’s on our first power play, he kills a lot of penalties. I see Tommy being one of our top forwards this year.”
The coach is also looking for contributions from the other two Ewing guys, saying “Hunter is on his first year of varsity, he competes real hard, he’s a strong physical guy. Bennett will get some time as our fifth or sixth defenseman.”
Like Patas, Larovere is loving the Ewing party being thrown on the Notre Dame ice. “It’s awesome,” he said. “I thought this would be fun and it’s great. Ewing has made a huge impact.”
Stephen Patas is one of five players from Ewing on the Notre Dame ice hockey team. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.),
