Hockey just isn’t the same. When the boys lumber out onto the gridiron, baseball diamond, or the basketball court, they’ve got the sport in their blood — and in their heads.##M:[more]## After years of tackling, batting and, shooting, they’ve ingrained the moves, the strategies and even the finer points of the rules.
But in the Garden State, where frozen ponds are rare, most of that hockey experience has been as a spectator. Even the youngsters raised on traveling hockey teams have put in comparatively a lot fewer hours of actual play.
This inexperience has presented a block over which High School North has stumbled harder than most this season. Of this young team’s seven freshmen, six sophomores, three juniors and three seniors, only eight players ever played for clubs or traveling teams prior to high school.
“It becomes tough to teach so much of the skills, along with so many of the rules, and at the same time pull a team together,” says Knights’ coach Bob Weiss.
As reflected in their 2-11-2 record, North has indeed had a struggle. On January 25 a veteran-laden Notre Dame dealt the Knights a 10-1 defeat in the first round of the Mercer County Tournament. (This did not entirely leave the Weiss household joyless, since coach Weiss’ son skated for Notre Dame.)
As with so many of its losses, the Knights were simply overwhelmed by the mathematics of defense. North’s junior goalies Ryan Worrall and Adam Natoli, respectively stopped 21 and 19 of the 50 shots on their goal. The Knights only got off one quarter as many at Notre Dame’s net.
Admittedly, stopping 40 out of 50 goal shots is impressive. Additionally, North has what coach Weiss terms “a defensive luxury.” Freshman James Collian joins Worrall and Natoli to provide the Knights three viable goalies.
Natoli, who is quick, if sometimes flustered on the ice, comes from a hard skating clan. His father, Robert Natoli plays club hockey, and his eighth grade sister plays for the local girls’ Tiger Lilies club. (Since Adam’s sister is destined to go to South next year, it is possible the two goalie siblings might face each other across the rink.)
But unfortunately, the Knights’ defensive luxury ends at the net. “We have an enormous defensive void,” says Weiss. “With only two trained defensemen, we have had to have volunteers step back into defense slots with which they truly are not familiar.”
Seniors Alex Watt and team captain Dan Margiatti have frequently left the front line to take defensive positions. Junior James Cosmas has also been shifted into defense, noting, “We have a very good team spirit here, but we don’t have enough teamwork on ice.”
Knights center Ernie Park, one of the team’s fastest attackmen, agrees. “Even more than skills, we need teamwork. We don’t really have any leadership on the ice — we need one or two players we can all get behind.”
A sophomore who has been skating only three years, Park, like much of his team is looking forward to things gelling next season, “We’re young, but we do have great potential.” First year player Chris Kerestez and Scottie Martin have both made strong showings and hopefully will be part of that bonding next year.
Faced with a plethora of goalies, an energetic, if inexperienced attack line, and an ostensible defensive gap, coach Weiss has developed a logical, if nearly unique strategy. “We have nothing to lose,” he keeps telling his players before the ill-fated Notre Dame contest. “So just push for the shot.”
Overmatched by most of their opponents, Weiss has opted to hurl all his energies into the offense and let the barely defended goalies take the hits. It is a simple method of playing to his team members’ strengths.
In addition to the Knights, Weiss has also coached the Flames team, in the local 16-year old youth league. Growing up in Manasquan, he first began playing for Brick Township High School and continued on Rider College. Upon graduating in 1982 with double major in marketing and teaching, Weiss weighed the salaries potential and made the then-popular choice of going for the money.
“After 10 years of fighting crabgrass in the sales department of Ortho, the teaching option began to look pretty pretty good,” he recalls. Weiss then took a position as a middle school history teacher for Hamilton, “And I have loved every day of it,” he says.
Having coached the Knights for the last two seasons, Weiss wants his players to skate away with more than just better skills and muscle. “Hockey by its very nature here brings a special camaraderie,” Weiss says. He points to the constant fund raisers to get money to buy special ice time for training; the 11 p.m. games, and practices that start at 10 p.m. on school nights.
Says the coach, “You’ve really got to want to play this sport — and this team really does.”
