Hopewell-Montgomery ice hockey coach Jeff Radice will get home after a game, put his notebook away, sit down at the kitchen table, have something to eat and try to unwind for a bit.
Three bites into his sandwich, a text will ping in from Jack Riewe.
“It’s ‘Hey coach did you post the film yet?’ (With me) knowing he already checked and knows I didn’t post it yet,” Radice said with a laugh. “He always gives me that nudge because he already wants to watch the game back before he goes to bed.
“He’s obsessed with the sport, he’s obsessed with getting better, he’s obsessed with what his opponents are doing or what he could have done better and is always looking to improve himself. That’s something you really can’t teach a kid. It’s just born into him. He’s what I consider a hockey nerd.”
But a proud hockey nerd who has turned the sport into a science as Riewe feels his intelligence on the ice is his top trait.
“I think I’m probably a student of the game,” the HVCHS junior said. “I just love hockey a lot. I’ve watched so many games; it’s been my entire life. I’ve been on the ice so much I’ve always had the knack of being in the right place, being smart, knowing where people would be and seeing the plays before they happen.
“Once you play for a while you kind of just know. Maybe it’s just me, but I think I can see the plays before they happen. Especially in the offensive zone, making the right passes and making plays.”
His coach obviously feels the same way, describing him with words like “smart” and “cerebral” and “playing with his head up.” As he gets older, Riewe has gotten bigger and stronger, and this year he’s looking to become a faster skater.
“He’s worked really hard to get himself up to the athlete that his brain wants him to be,” said Radice, whose wife gave birth to a baby girl, Riley, at the season’s outset. “He’s always in the right place at the right time. It’s hard for kids to play this sport with their head up because it’s so fast. His eyes are always surveying the ice.”
When the winger has the puck on his stick, he tends to control the game. He will slow things down to create the offense, or speed things up if the Bulldogs have a chance to break.
“It’s like a chess match,” Radice said.
Riewe calls checkmate more often than not. As a freshman, he led H-M in scoring with 13 goals and 25 assists for 38 points.
“I wouldn’t say I was surprised at that,” the Pennington resident said. “I had watched my brother (Brenden) play his sophomore year, I knew most of the players I was playing against. I had high expectations for myself – maybe not to lead my team in points but be the best player I could be and make sure I was contributing the most I could; which ended up leading in points.
“But our team was also really good. I had a lot of good players around me. It was helpful but at the same time, I really was trying to work on my game. I was not worrying about the stats but how I was playing and how the stats would come after that.”
He took a season off from club hockey as a sophomore, as did most of his teammates as they did not want to miss a high school game for a club game (which is usually the case). To a man the players felt H-M had a chance to do big things and they were right, as Hopewell went 25-3, won the Colonial Valley Conference Tournament and reached the NJSIAA South Public Co-Op Tournament semifinals.
Entering the season without much competitive ice time in the fall, Riewe had just one assist through the first five games. He exploded for a hat trick in a 5-4 win over Paul VI, launching him a blitz of nine goals over four games.
“Through those first five games something like that never happened to me so it was an experience,” Riewe said. “I was doing the right things but I couldn’t seem to score or get any assists. It was tough. I knew at some point I was gonna break through.”
He finished the season with 20 goals and 25 assists in helping Hopewell to a historic season.
Through H-M’s 2-2-1 start this year he had five goals (all in one game) and two assists as he tries to lead a young team that was hit hard by graduation.
With two seniors, Riewe is being counted on for leadership, which he is fine with. He’s back playing club so will miss some Bulldogs games, but looks forward to a season with new teammates.
“It’s definitely different from last year,” he said. “ We had a lot of great players. And we still have some this year. Some of them are undersized but they know what they’re doing.
“I don’t think it matters who I play with. The lines have changed a lot but as long as they can keep up and are in the right spots, they’ll be fine. I make it my responsibility to make sure they’re playing well and giving them some chances to score.”
Riewe’s career started at age 5 when he followed Brenden into club hockey with Nassau.
“We were on the same team and I kind of just fell in love with it,” he said. “It was because of my brother (who graduated after last year). When my brother started playing I kind of got roped into it and I really liked it.”
After two years Riewe went to the New Jersey Stars before playing on the Mercer Chiefs. After a year of leading the Chiefs in scoring he spent two years with the Philadelphia Junior Flyers, where he was exposed to a higher level of competition.
“I wanted to play on a better team and their coach really wanted me,” he said.
But the 75-minute ride to West Chester, Pa., became too much and Riewe returned to the Chiefs. His playing time was curtailed, however, due to team politics, so he returned to Nassau.
Entering the high school season, Riewe set some definite goals for himself.
“I’m making sure I’m always trying to play good defense and keep a goal from scoring on us,” he said. “And I’ve never been the fastest skater. My entire life I’ve always been small. I feel like I’ve started growing . . . and I’m still growing, I’m always tired.
“My brother was always the fast one in the family; he was one of the fastest on my team. I guess, if I’m not the fastest it always forces me to be in the right spot so I don’t have to fly around guys to score. I feel like I’m getting faster. Hopefully the plays will come easier to me.”
If they don’t come easier, Riewe has a way of making it look easy.
“He’s the type of player that works well with anyone,” Radice said. “He brings up the rest of his line no matter who’s on it. Anyone who plays with him is always gonna benefit from him.”
The coach feels his star player is also getting more adept at handling the game’s rough nature.
“He doesn’t initiate physicality but when kids try to hit him he can protect the puck better and kind of knows where to position his body so he doesn’t lose the puck,” Radice said. “He’s not gonna blow anybody up with a hit or anything but he’s very smart at what kind of situations he gets himself into.
“He’s just a great kid. He wants to continue at the next level after high school and I think he can. You can’t teach somebody to love something. He clearly loves the sport so much that it’s something he thinks about and cares about.”
He cares so much, in fact, that his coach has trouble finishing his post-game meals.