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| 2007-08 Club
Ice Hockey Excerpts and Links to Media Reports: May/June Banter: ICE HOCKEY SEASON ENDS AT STATE QUARTERFINALS By John Holbrooke The Barons ice hockey season came to a bittersweet conclusion. It marked the end of a glorious run by the '08 seniors who have been the heart and soul of the hockey program for four years. They were battered as freshmen, but they grew into a unit that made it to the playoffs the next three years. Last year they won the regional (county) championship and made it to the state semi-finals. This year their 9-1 season took them to the state quarterfinals. This group of 14 seniors was a fabulous mix of talent, grit and cohesion. There was leadership throughout, but captain Ryan Haughey was the indisputable top dog. He led through encouragement and example and was selected as the best goalie in the State of Maryland. Haughey was also named 1st Team All-Gazette while Ben Pounds was recognized by the Gazette as honorable mention. Haughey and seniors Jacob VanderVeen and Ben Pounds were named to the MSHL All-Star team. Junior Kerry Goebel was selected to the second team MSHL/Montgomery all league. Haughey also garnered All-Met Honorable Mention by the Washington Post. Despite their success, the Barons are not resting on their laurels. They have fielded a team in the spring league. There is a good representation of seniors playing, not only as a last hurrah, but also to mentor and develop the underclassmen. Feb. 21, Post: Linganore's Different Look A year after a heartbreaking, last-minute loss to South River in the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League public school championship game, Linganore is back in the MSHL's final four. The Lancers, who enter the rankings this week at No. 10, beat then-No. 7 Bethesda-Chevy Chase, 4-3, in a shootout Tuesday night in the West Region final. Goalie Kelci Lanthier made 20 saves in regulation and overtime and didn't allow a goal in the shootout. Sean McHugh scored the clinching goal in the shootout. Feb. 14, Post: The Post Top 10: Ice Hockey Team (W-L-T) Feb. 13, Gazette: On ice, it’s MSHL tournament time Montgomery County ice hockey teams in both the public- and private-school ranks enter the playoff season this week, with county, league and state champions to be decided between now and Feb. 22. The public schools kicked off the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League playoffs Monday afternoon, with top-seeded Wootton’s 8-0 win over No. 4 Magruder (5-4-2) in the semifinals of the Montgomery Sectional. Wootton (11-0-0) will face the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 2 B-CC (9-1-0) and No. 3 Whitman (7-2-1) in the sectional final Friday. Regardless of the outcome, both sectional finalists will advance to the regional playoffs, which are, in effect, the state’s elite eight. In the original playoff design, there wasn’t going to be a Montgomery sectional final, but coaches clamored for a way to decide the county title. ‘‘Some people said, ‘Why do we need another game?’” B-CC coach J.T. Burton said. ‘‘Basically, it’s all for bragging rights. But I didn’t understand why you wouldn’t want to have the game. The kids wanted, so they have bragging rights with their club teammates.” Friday’s game also has implications for placement in the next round, however. The loser must travel to Frederick and play the champion of the Monocacy Valley League, most likely last year’s state runner-up Linganore (10-2). The winner will stay in the county and play either Good Counsel (11-0-0) or St. John’s-D.C. (6-5-1). Feb. 7, Post: The Post Top 10: Ice Hockey Team (W-L-T) Jan. 31, Post: The Post Top 10: Ice Hockey Team (W-L-T) Jan. 24, Post: Ice Hockey Notebook Wootton Gains an Edge Friday's game between Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Wootton was for first place in the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League's Montgomery Division, so with the score tied at 2 midway through the third period -- and both B-CC's Ryan Haughey and Wootton's Chris Hogan playing well in goal -- someone needed to make a play. Then Wootton senior Scott Futrovsky took a pass along the boards at center ice and hugged the boards as he took the puck into the Barons' zone. As he neared the goal line, he turned left, eluded the defenseman and put the puck past Haughey for the eventual game-winner in a 3-2 victory. The win pushed No. 9 Wootton to 7-0 in league play and clinched a playoff spot. "It was the best feeling ever," said Futrovsky, who plays club hockey for Montgomery Youth Hockey's Midget U-18 squad. "I just fell on the ice and stayed there, screaming, with my teammates jumping on top of me." No. 10 B-CC, meanwhile, made some changes because of the loss. Barons Coach J.T. Burton said he will move Michael Kunza from forward to defenseman and alter some of his lines. "We're starting from scratch," Burton said. "There's not going to be free-form hockey. We're going to get the puck in deep, circle it around until we can get a good shot off." Jan. 24, Post: The Post Top 10: Ice Hockey B-CC lost to Wootton but stayed in the top 10 because five of its six losses are to higher-ranked teams. Team (W-L-T) Jan. 23, Gazette: Wootton puts B-CC on ice In ice hockey battle of unbeatens, Patriots prevail The Wootton ice hockey team overcame an early two-goal deficit Friday night, edging Bethesda-Chevy Chase, 3-2, in a battle of the county’s two remaining unbeaten teams. Chris Puderbaugh brought Wootton (7-0) level with the team’s first two goals, setting up Scott Futrovsky’s game-winner in the third period. Futrovsky picked up the puck out wide and cut across to the middle, sending a shot past B-CC (6-1) senior Ryan Haughey. ‘‘It was a good, hard-working goal,” Wootton coach Dave Evans said. ‘‘He got his nose dirty. With our depth on the bench, we wanted our guys to be more physical, to exact a toll on them. We didn’t do that enough early.” B-CC jumped out to its lead courtesy of goals by Kerry Goebel and Paul Steinitz. Michael Kunza, Leigham MacWilliam and Ben Pounds each added an assist. Evans said the lead could have been even bigger, with Wootton killing off a four-minute double minor penalty when they were already down two goals. ‘‘The two or three things we talked about before the game couldn’t happen, happened,” Evans said. ‘‘But the guys stuck together and showed a lot of poise and composure. ... We knew if we could get it tied, we had a good chance. But you go down 2-0 with Ryan in the other net, you start worrying that you’ve got to get something in right here.” Wootton outshot B-CC, 15-2 in the second period and 34-16 for the game. Haughey’s 31 saves included one on a penalty shot. In the other net, Chris Hogan made 14 saves for Wootton. Steven Rubin, Andrew Stein, Josh Bretner and P.J. Hall all had assists on Wootton’s goals. With three games remaining in its regular season, Wootton has now clinched a place in the four-team regional playoffs and has the inside track to the top seed. B-CC and Whitman (6-1-1) would each clinch berths with one more win, while Churchill (3-3-1), Walter Johnson (3-3-1) and Magruder (2-3-1) battle it out for the final spot. Wootton plays Northwest⁄Germantown Monday, then closes the season with Friday night games against Springbrook⁄Einstein and rival Churchill. B-CC plays Richard Montgomery Friday and Sherwood Monday, before ending the regular campaign against Gaithersburg. Jan. 17, Post: The Post Top 10: Ice Hockey Team (W-L-T) Jan. 16, Gazette: Ice hockey unbeatens on collision course B-CC, Wootton to meet on Friday A little over halfway through the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League season, Wootton and Bethesda-Chevy Chase alone remain unbeaten in the Montgomery Division. That won’t last beyond Friday, when the two square off at Cabin John Ice Arena. The game features a contrast in styles. Wootton (6-0) wants to set up in the offensive zone and work the puck around for a good shot. B-CC (6-0) has built its perfect start on quick-strike, outlet passes and the standout goaltending of senior Ryan Haughey. ‘‘We actually haven’t seen each other in over two years,” B-CC coach J.T. Burton said. ‘‘It’s going to kind of be an interesting game. ... If we can get a couple of goals, Ryan will keep us in whatever game we’re playing.” Haughey, an All-Gazette first-team performer a year ago, already has three shutouts this season, and a 1.38 goals-against average. The offense is without another All-Gazette first-teamer, graduated Michael Montross, but a bevy of seniors have picked up the slack, led by Ben Pounds and Kerry Goebel. Newcomer Leigham McWilliam, a transfer from Canada, has stepped right in as well, and is the team’s leading assist man. ... The puck drops Friday at 6:15 p.m. One team will come out with the inside track for the top seed to the regional playoffs. The other will hope for a rematch down the road. Nov. 21, Gazette: Once again, change reigns in MSHL It’s another year in the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League, and with it comes another series of tweaks and adjustments. The biggest off-season change is that most of the state’s private schools, including those in the Interstate Athletic Conference, are no longer part of the MSHL. ... The league abandoned the regional playoff structure after just one year, as well as the time-honored tradition of allowing any (non-provisional) team with at least a .500 record into the playoffs. This year, the top four Montgomery County teams will square off in what amount to two play-in games. The winners of the two games advance into the eight-team state playoff field, where they will play the champions of two other divisions. Last year, six teams made the regional playoffs; Magruder and Sherwood would have missed out under this structure. Three Montgomery County teams made the state field, two as at-large teams. Under this year’s system, only Churchill and B-CC would have gone, with Walter Johnson left out. ‘‘That’s been a point of contention this off-season,” Sherwood coach Chris Leonard said. ‘‘I’d love to see more teams get in. I still believe the Montgomery Conference is one of the stronger ones. It’s tough to whittle it down to two teams from such a strong division.” The state playoffs will thus include two teams from the Montgomery Conference and the champion of each of the other six conferences — Howard A, Howard AA, Eastern, Monocacy Valley, Southern and Capital. The Montgomery Conference itself has seen changes, as well. Last year, its 16 teams were split into two divisions, East and West. But provisional teams Burke⁄WIS and Landon II dropped from the league, leaving 14 Montgomery County public-school teams. The MSHL chose to move Damascus, which plays its home games in Frederick County, into the Monocacy Valley Conference. The other 13 county public-school teams will play in one large league. One thing that hasn’t changed is the consensus among coaches as to which are the top teams in the county. B-CC, Wootton, Walter Johnson and Churchill will once again likely be at or near the top at season’s end, with a fair number of spoilers knocking on the door. But the big question this year is: How good is the Montgomery Conference compared to the rest of the state? Last year, South River became the first team from outside Montgomery County ever to win the MSHL’s public-school state tournament. In fact, no Montgomery team even reached the state final. This season will help determine if that was an anomaly, or if other areas of the state have, in fact, surpassed Montgomery County ice hockey. ‘‘Judging from last year, other parts of the state are getting stronger,” Walter Johnson coach Charlie Vinal said. ‘‘Still, I think the amount of talent and depth in the Montgomery league is superior. ... I think this will be a great year for hockey in Montgomery.” * * * Feb. 21, 2007, Gazette: Cinderella on ice: B-CC wins region title A week earlier, the only people who would have believed it were the ones now pouring off the Bethesda-Chevy Chase bench to mob junior goalie Ryan Haughey. Haughey made nine saves in overtime and four in the ensuing penalty shootout to lift fourth-seeded B-CC over No. 3 Churchill in the final of the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League South Region playoffs, Friday at the Rockville Ice Arena. After a 3-3 tie at the end of regulation, the teams played 10 minutes of scoreless overtime before B-CC won the shootout, 2-0. ‘‘I was just hoping that we would run it down and get into a shootout,” Haughey said of Churchill’s dominance in the overtime period. ‘‘I knew we would have a great chance if it went to a shootout. I knew we had some of the best breakaway players in the state.” The regional championship earned B-CC (9-3-1) a place in this week’s eight-team MSHL Public School State Tournament, a place it likely would not have had without the regional title. Its unlikely run through the draw featured wins over three teams — No. 5 Sherwood (6-5-0), No. 1 Walter Johnson (8-1-1) and Churchill (9-3-1) — against whom it had gone 0-2-1 during the regular season. But a 6-3 win over Sherwood in the quarterfinals set the stage for the big upset, 5-2 over previously unbeaten Walter Johnson in Thursday’s semifinals. In the other semi, Churchill topped second-seeded Wootton for the second time in less than a week, this one a 2-1 overtime thriller. That set up the surprise final match up. Both teams were a little drained from emotional wins over their rivals the day before. The game was tied at two heading into the third period, when Churchill seemed to have more in reserve. Zach Greenwald’s second goal of the game gave the defending state champions a 3-2 lead with eight minutes to play. That’s where things stood until just 41 seconds remained. B-CC pulled Haughey for a sixth skater and, after a Churchill icing, held the puck in the offensive zone. Freshman defenseman Philip Asberg worked it to senior Michael Montross in the corner. The team’s leading scorer threw it across the face of goal, where junior Ben Pounds was waiting on the back door to deflect it in. ‘‘We were just absolutely dead,” Pounds said. ‘‘As much as I thought we might pull it out, I wasn’t sure we’d be able to. We just worked it around and got it in front. ... I’d been trying to get there all game for that goal.” Haughey then withstood the Churchill onslaught in overtime, setting up the shootout. Churchill goalie Griffin Farha stopped two B-CC shooters, but Montross and junior Michael Kunza scored. When Haughey made his fourth stop in as many tries, B-CC was the champion. ... Led by Haughey and Montross, both standouts since they were freshmen, the team came into the season with high hopes. But things didn’t click until late in the year, when Montross, Pounds and Kunza joined together to make a dominating first line. Now the team is headed to states, seeded fourth again, to play No. 5 Severna Park Thursday. ‘‘We knew we had a lot of talent — great goalie, a lot of solid people,” Montross said. ‘‘Basically, it was just all a matter of getting the lines right. ...With a minute left [Friday], I’m not going to lie, I started to get worried. But we kind of knew in the back of our heads that we could do it.” Feb. 15: MSHL Sectional Finals Barons to Face Linganore in State Playoffs The Linganore team that B-CC lost to 7-2 in the state playoff semifinals last year was a juggernaut. The Linganore team that B-CC will face Tuesday in the state quarterfinals is not. They are very good—but beatable. The difference is that three of the Lancers’ best players from a year ago—Jason Klauka (52 points), David Fegler and Drew Nehring—are gone. Klauka graduated, Fegler chose to focus on junior hockey, and Nehring left the team mid-season. What’s left is a hard-nosed hockey team with lots of scoring punch (six players had more than 10 points) and a good goalie (Kelci Lanthier). Linganore finished the season 10-2, good for second in the Monocacy Valley League (behind Washington County, a provisional team). For the season, the Lancers outscored their opponents 74-34 in 12 league games. To beat Linganore, the Barons are going to have to be a very different team than the one that showed up to play Friday against Wootton in the Montgomery County championship game. Wootton scored goals on its first three shifts en route to a 6-3 victory. B-CC simply wasn’t ready for the game. “Forty-five minutes before the game I knew we would come out flat,” coach J.T. Burton said. The B-CC players and coaches met Saturday afternoon to try to understand what went wrong Friday and to prepare for Linganore. Barons’ co-captain Ryan Haughey said he thinks part of the problem was that the B-CC players knew that they were in the state playoffs, regardless of the outcome of the Wootton game. “We all knew we were in the states and took [the Wootton] game for granted,” he said. “Wootton came out like it was a championship game. We came out like it was a regular season game.” Haughey said the meeting Saturday was “relaxed” and that there was none of the finger pointing that had surfaced at other times during the season. “We all knew that we hadn’t played well,” he said. How bad was it? It was already 3-0 before many of the spectators even made it into the rink. “The first three minutes of the game were utter domination,” Burton said. Videotape of the game showed that two of Wootton’s first three goals deflected in off of the skates of B-CC players. But nobody was claiming that Wootton was lucky. Everybody agreed that they were good. B-CC didn’t get its first shot on goal until four minutes into the period. Halfway through the period, Wootton was outshooting B-CC 11-2. The Barons started to show some life late in the first period, but the Patriots made it 4-0 after capitalizing on a B-CC giveaway in the defensive zone. With less than two minutes to go in the period, the Barons cut the margin to 4-1 when Kerry Goebel scored on a slap shot from just inside the blue line. The teams each scored two goals in the second period. B-CC cut Wootton’s lead to 4-2 when Ben Pounds slammed home a rebound of a Michael Kunza shot from the point. But Wootton answered almost immediately, scoring on a wrist shot from about 12 feet. Ten minutes later the Patriots scored again to make it 6-2. With three minutes to go in the second period, Leigham MacWilliam deflected in Goebel’s shot from the point to narrow the Wootton advantage to three goals. But any momentum was lost when a B-CC player was almost immediately nabbed for a hooking penalty. The Barons came out on fire at the start of the third period—and had a 5-3 power play for 1:09. But B-CC didn’t come close to scoring, and Wootton even had a 2-on-0 breakaway during the Barons’ power play. In the third period, B-CC outshot Wootton 9-3. For the game, Wootton had the shot advantage, 34-27. Linganore presents a different kind of challenge than Wootton. Linganore is as physical as Wootton is swift. In fact, five Linganore players have more than 20 penalty minutes this year—and three of the five have more than 30 minutes. The Lancers’ second-leading scorer, defenseman Patrick St. Clair, has more than 45 penalty minutes. St. Clair was named as the MSHL defensive player from the Monocacy Conference. To beat Linganore, the Barons, first and foremost, are going to have to want to win. From the moment they skate onto the ice, they are going to have to go all out—the way that Wootton did last Friday. The Barons must show Linganore that they’re not intimated by the Lancers’ physical style of play. At the same time, the B-CC players are going to have to stay emotionally cool. Unless Linganore changes its game, the Lancers are going to draw a lot of penalties. If the Barons don’t retaliate, they should end up with numerous power play opportunities. That’s only an advantage, of course, if the power play is effective, which in the last few games has been anything but. B-CC needs to go back to fundamentals on the power play—lots of movement with players and the puck, and patience. They should also look, whenever possible, to get the puck to Goebel on the point. He has a hard and accurate shot that often finds the back of the net or creates scoring chances on rebounds. The other key for B-CC is that the players need to do their individual jobs. The Barons have as much talent as any team, but too often the individual players aren’t where they’re supposed to be, doing what they are supposed to do. B-CC can’t break out of the defensive zone, for example, if the forwards are halfway up the ice, which was the case time and again against Wootton. At the meeting Saturday, as the team watched the video of the Wootton game, Burton pointed out the many mistakes that individual players made. “There were fundamental breakdowns,” he said. “It’s a matter of Xs and Os, not skill.” It’s also a matter of heart. If the Barons play Tuesday with their heads and their hearts, they will win—and be in the state semifinals for the second year in a row. Linganore Leading Scorers:
Ice Chips: Jonny Goldberg, who was suspended for the Wootton game, will be back in the lineup for Tuesday’s game… The game against Linganore is at the Frederick rink at 5 p.m. Tuesday. ALL B-CC team members and coaches will travel in style together, by chartered bus from B-CC. The Eyre bus will be at school at 2:30 p.m.; departure is at 2:45 p.m… Fans should dress warmly: The Frederick rink is cited by some contrarian scientists as evidence that global warming doesn’t exist… In the “small world” category, the Linganore coach, Pete Grzybinski, works for me at Bethesda Magazine. His job status will be re-evaluated at about 7 o’clock Tuesday night! - Reported by Steve Hull Feb. 13: MSHL Sectional Semifinals Barons face Wootton in regional playoff final If every game in the playoffs could end in a shootout, the B-CC ice hockey team would be the favorites to win a state championship. The Walt Whitman hockey team can attest to that. In the regional semifinal Wednesday, the Barons beat Whitman, 2-1, outscoring the Vikings 2-0 in a shootout. Goalie Ryan Haughey stopped all four Whitman shooters he faced, and John Samuelson and Michael Kunza scored for B-CC. In regulation time and the 10-minute sudden-death overtime, though, the Barons were less than dominant against a team they were heavily favored to beat. With the win, the Barons advance to Friday’s regional final game against Wootton, who beat Magruder, 8-0, in Monday’s other Montgomery Conference semifinal game. The B-CC-Wootton game is at 3:50 p.m. at Rockville. By being in the regional final, both B-CC and Wootton have qualified for the state playoffs, which begin next week. The Barons’ shootout prowess is the result of two factors. Haughey, who was named to the All-State team earlier this week, is almost impossible to score on one-on-one. In three shootouts over the past two years, he hasn’t allowed a goal. Plus, B-CC is blessed with many talented individual players. Amazingly, the Barons won the shootout without Ben Pounds and Leigham MacWilliam even shooting. That’s depth. The problem is that the same individual offensive skills that make B-CC so formidable in a shootout aren’t as effective in regular game conditions. Against good team like Whitman, one-on-one hockey just doesn’t work. The Barons struggled on offense for most of the game—and are likely to struggle even more against even more talented teams in the state playoffs. Unless B-CC changes their ways—and play more as a team—there may not be any more chances for shootouts. The Whitman game was a microcosm of B-CC’s season. B-CC was clearly more talented, but Whitman played with more discipline, drive and teamwork. As a result, a game that the B-CC coaches thought would be a rout, was a nail-biter. The Barons lacked energy from the start (although it picked up as the game went on), took needless penalties (Whitman scored its goal with B-CC down two men), made remarkably few headman passes and rarely had anyone in front of the goal to knock home rebounds. “Our players know what to do, they just weren’t doing it,” Burton said. “It was the little things we weren’t doing. We were playing nervous.” The game started well for B-CC. Just a few minutes into the first period, Kunza carried the puck the length of the ice and scored from the left side. Almost immediately after the goal, the Barons seemed to lose focus. Late in the period, B-CC committed two penalties, giving Whitman a 5-3 advantage for more than a minute. The Vikings scored when a pass in front deflected off of a B-CC player’s skate and into the goal. Whitman outshot B-CC 10-6 in the period. Neither team scored in a closely fought second period. The Barons had three power plays during the period, but couldn’t get in synch. B-CC was tested early in the third period when Jonny Goldberg was assessed a five-minute penalty (and a game misconduct) for head butting. The Barons withstood the five-minute power play and seemed to gain confidence as a result of it. B-CC stepped their game up in the 10-minute overtime—outshooting Whitman 6-2—but couldn’t get the puck by Viking goalie Brenden Hart. Late in overtime, Burton told the team that he, of course, wanted them to score, but more than anything he wanted them to play solid defense. He knew that if the game went to a shootout, B-CC would have a huge advantage. In the shootout, Haughey stopped the first Whitman shooter, and defenseman John Samuelson, who played an outstanding all-around game, took the puck for the Barons. Samuelson skated up, faked to the right and scored on a wrist shot, giving B-CC a 1-0 advantage. Samuelson, a good stick handler, said he was surprised, but confident when Burton chose him to shoot first. “I’ve used that move in practice, and it worked against Ryan,” he said. “I figured it if will work against Ryan, it will work against anybody else.” Whitman’s second shooter shot wide, and then B-CC’s Kerry Goebel hit the goal post with a wrist shot. Whitman’s third shooter looked like he might have Haughey beat, but Haughey got a piece of the puck with his pad or stick. “My heart stopped for a second,” he said. “I thought it went in.” Kunza was up next for the Barons. With his incredible moves, he is nearly impossible to stop one-on-one. And Hart didn’t stop him. Kunza faked out Hart and scored on a wrist shot. When Haughey stoned Whitman’s Chris Kelly, the B-CC players celebrated. “I love being in shootouts with the crowd going wild,” a jubilant Haughey said after the game. “I want the chance to make a big play and win the game." B-CC vs. Wootton Preview The Wootton game will be a rematch between the two best teams in Montgomery County. Wootton beat B-CC, 3-2, on January 28, after the Patriots fell behind 2-0 in the first period. The Barons let down in the second period, and the Patriots dominated for the rest of the game. Wootton outshot B-CC 34-16. To beat Wootton, B-CC is going to have to play all-out for the entire game and play much more conservatively on defense than they have in recent games. Either Kunza needs to stay home on the blue line more often, or the B-CC forwards need to cover for him when he goes in the zone. If neither of those things happens, it could get ugly. Whitman had numerous odd-man rushes when only one B-CC player was on the blue line, and Wootton is quicker and more talented than Whitman. B-CC can beat Wootton, though. With as much talent as the Barons have—and with Haughey in goal—B-CC is capable of beating any team in the state. It’s just a matter of putting everything together. And that can come from only one place—the players. While both B-CC and Wootton will advance to the state playoffs, the winner will have an easier seed. The winning team will play the winner of the Good Counsel/St. John’s regional final game Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Rockville. The loser will play the winner of tonight’s regional final game between Linganore and Thomas Johnson on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the Frederick rink, which is home ice for both squads. Linganore eliminated B-CC in the state semifinals last year. Ice Chips: Burton credits assistant coach Pat Haughey with a call that prohibited one of Whitman’s best players from participating in the shootout. Zachary Wolfe was in the penalty box when the overtime ended. He skated out of the box to prepare for the shootout when Haughey asked the referee to check the rulebook. Sure enough, a player who has time left on penalty when overtime ends is not eligible for a shootout… Co-captain Sam Hull, who missed several games with a separated shoulder, played effectively but not at full strength in the Whitman game. “Sam gave us some great minutes,” Burton said. Freshman defenseman Miles VanderVeen remains out with a concussion… Goldberg will not be able to play against Wootton because he was assessed a game misconduct penalty in the Whitman game… Ryan Haughey, Pounds and defenseman Jacob VanderVeen were selected to play in the senior all-star game after the state playoffs. - Reported by Steve Hull B-CC to Face Whitman Wednesday in Playoffs By Steve Hull The 14 seniors on this year’s B-CC hockey team have done what they were supposed to do—improve each year. When today’s seniors were freshmen, the Barons were 2-8; as sophomores they were 6-4; as juniors 8-2; and this year 9-1. They’ve also improved their playoff position every year. The first year they didn’t make the playoffs, the second year they were routed in the first round, and last year they soared to the state semi-finals. The question facing the Barons as they prepare for the first game in the county playoffs Wednesday versus Walt Whitman is, can this senior-dominated team take the next step and win a state championship? The team clearly has the talent to do it. But when you get into the playoffs, talent isn’t enough. The teams that advance in the playoffs also have drive, discipline and a “we’re all in this together’ attitude.” The Barons have shown glimpses of those traits this year, but only glimpses. There is cause for hope. Last year’s team was also out of synch for much of the regular season, but found their rhythm in the playoffs and took off on an exhilarating run. Coach J.T. Burton was encouraged by the team’s attitude at Wednesday’s practice. “Our practice was great…,” he said. “I gauge that by the fact that I had to refill water bottles in the middle of practice because they were working so hard. That’s the first time in seven years that that’s happened. I was very happy about the effort that was shown.” To beat Whitman—and to make a run at the state championship—B-CC must improve in four areas (all of which they are capable of doing). They need to: Play smarter. The B-CC players need to take individual responsibility. They need to be where they are supposed to be and do what they are supposed to do. Burton has been working on systems with them all year. The players need to execute. Play with more discipline. The Barons have a tendency to take retaliatory penalties. In the playoffs, the team with the most power plays is usually the team that wins. B-CC needs to stay out of the penalty box. Play with more intensity. Against Wootton, B-CC took a 2-0 lead and then let down, allowing the Patriots to come back and eventually win, 3-2. The Barons need to play all out, all the time, to go far in the playoffs. Play as a team. The Barons are very talented. So are many of the other teams in the playoffs. The Barons can win the state championship, but only if they come together as a team, as last year’s team did. It’s simple: play as a team, win as a team. B-CC/Whitman Preview When: Wednesday, 5:45 p.m. Walt Whitman is an up-and-coming team (they have only two seniors) that finished the regular season 7-2-1. B-CC beat Whitman, 6-1, in a preseason game, but the Barons scored five of their goals against the Vikings’ back-up goalie. Whitman is a talented and deep team that will play unselfishly and with a lot of heart. Despite Whitman’s loss last week to Northwest/Germantown, the Barons should not underestimate the Vikings. “The thing that worries me about Whitman most is B-CC overlooking them,” said Burton. “The Giants just beat the Pats, so who the hell knows what will happen next. I think that if we do not have a huge meltdown we should” beat Whitman. The stakes are high. The winner advances to Friday’s championship game (against Wootton or Magruder); the loser is done for the season. Both teams in the county final will advance to the state playoffs. Goals for/against (through 10 regular season games) B-CC: 59-14 Leading scorers (10 or more points)
Key common opponents Wootton Magruder Walter Johnson Richard Montgomery Sherwood Northwest/Germantown Goalies B-CC’s Ryan Haughey is one of the best in the state. His goals-against average in league games was 1.91. Whitman’s Brendan Hart plays MYHA U16A. His stats on the MSHL Web site are not up to date, but as a team Whitman gave up just 2.5 goals per game. Ice Chips: Injury update: Co-captain Sam Hull (separated shoulder) practiced last week, but was in a fair amount of pain. His status for the Whitman game is day-to-day. Freshman defense Miles VanderVeen (concussion) is also day-to-day. Jan. 30: B-CC 6, Gaithersburg 0 The Barons beat Gaithersburg, 6-0, in the final regular season game. Senior Sean Vaskov was strong in goal, stopping 20 shots to get the shutout. Ben Pounds led B-CC with two goals and an assist, and Christian Cobb tallied twice. Leigham MacWilliam and Jonny Goldberg each scored once (with Goldberg also getting an assist). Michael Kunza had two assists and John Samuelson and David Fillinich each had one assist. - Reported by Steve Hull Jan. 28: B-CC 4, Sherwood 1 Barons guaranteed second or third seed in county playoffs Over the weekend, B-CC hockey coach J.T. Burton tried to figure out what was wrong with his team. Sure, the Barons were 7-1, but neither the coaches nor players seemed to be enjoying the team’s success. Burton called assistant coach Patrick Haughey, a star on B-CC’s undefeated team in 2003-2004, with a question: “Was it fun when you played?” “It was a blast,” Haughey replied. Burton came to Monday’s game against Sherwood with a simple message for his team: have fun. And have fun they did, beating the Warriors 4-1 at The Gardens Ice House in Laurel. The game was not as close as the score indicated: B-CC outshot Sherwood 45-13. “We just played our game and had more fun doing it,” co-captain Ryan Haughey said. “We were smiling and laughing throughout the game,” added senior forward Paul Steinitz. “Nobody was complaining.” Kerry Goebel opened the scoring for the Barons at 6:58 in the first period. After passes from Leigham MacWilliam and Ben Pounds, Goebel carried the puck from the corner and beat Sherwood’s goalie Alec Renz top shelf with a backhanded shot. B-CC scored their second goal at 5:58 of the second period when Goebel shot the puck from the point, and MacWilliam, who was hovering around the goal much of the night, stuffed home the rebound. Less than two minutes later Christian Cobb made it 3-0 on a wrist shot after a pass from Steinitz, whose hustle and tenacity created the opportunity. The Barons scored their fourth goal with less than two minutes to go in the second period when Cobb knocked the puck away from a Sherwood player and Jonny Goldberg put it home. Late in the second period, Sherwood scored its goal on a breakaway—and in the process revealed a chink in B-CC’s armor. Since Michael Kunza switched from forward to defense two games ago, his hustle and focus have definitely improved. But nearly every time the Barons had the puck in the offensive zone, Kunza left his post on the blue line to join the attack. That left B-CC with just one defender—a situation that Sherwood exploited when they scored their goal. Sherwood didn’t have the speed or talent to take advantage more often. But every team in the playoffs will have both. Kunza will need to stay put more often, joining the attack only when specific opportunities present themselves. And he will need to be paired with a stay-at-home defenseman, who will compensate when Kunza goes into the zone. Finally, one of the B-CC forwards will need to fill the open slot on the blue line. They did it regularly last week against Richard Montgomery, but not very often against Sherwood. Burton said the team needs to make “minor changes,” but that he was encouraged by the improved play of Kunza, and the team’s hustle and improved attitude. “This is when we’re going to start to pick up speed,” he said. “We’re in such a better situation than we were two weeks ago.” The Barons wrap up the regular season Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Rockville with a league game against Gaithersburg, which has a 3-6 record and has allowed 70 goals in nine games. Heading into that game, B -CC is 8-1 and guaranteed one of the top three seeds in the county playoffs. Getting the first seed is unlikely—Wootton would have to tie or lose its final two games. With the second or third seed, B-CC would play Whitman, which is 6-1-1. Ice Chips: B-CC is ranked ninth in the Washington area in today’s Washington Post high school hockey rankings. Wootton, which beat B-CC two weeks ago, fell out of the top 10 after losing last week to Georgetown Prep, 5-1. Wootton was missing several key players… As part of his effort to loosen up his team, Burton had the players who were on the ice when a goal was scored for or against B-CC skate over to the bench during the Sherwood game. “That gets everyone hyped up when we score and makes sure we don’t fall apart when the other team scores,” he said… Before Wednesday night’s non-league game vs. DeMatha II, the DeMatha Web site touted the B-CC hockey team as a “Public School Powerhouse.” The Barons lived up to the billing, beating the Stags 12-2. The game was called at 12:10 of the third period because of the mercy rule. Sean Vaskov, who played the entire game in goal, didn’t see much action: DeMatha had only four shots on goal; B-CC had 41. Kunza tallied six points on three goals and three assists, Pounds had two goals and three assists, Steinitz and MacWilliam had two goals and an assist each, Goebel had a goal and two assists, Fillinich had a goal and an assist, and Cobb had a goal. Ben Austin and Jacob VanderVeen had assists... On Tuesday night, the JV finished big, beating Walter Johnson 10-0. Thomas Krogh and Sean Vaskov, who skated out, each got two goals and an assist, and freshman Nathan Gelfand-Toutant got a goal and two assists. Goalie Steven Holbrooke got the shutout. - Reported by Steve Hull Jan. 25: B-CC 7, Richard Montgomery 4 Fillinich gets 3 goals, Pounds 4 assists All year long the B-CC coaches have been trying to get senior forward Ben Pounds to pass more. Friday night against Richard Montgomery, Pounds passed a lot. In the process, he got four assists and led the Barons to a 7-4 win. Three of Pounds’ assists were on goals scored by sophomore David Fillinich, who got his first B-CC hat trick. The Barons played without three regulars: center Kerry Goebel, who was ill; center Sam Hull, who’s still recovering from a separated shoulder; and defenseman Miles VanderVeen, who has a concussion. With his bench shortened—and wanting to shake up his team after last weeks’ disheartening 3-2 loss to first-place Wootton—B-CC coach J.T. Burton shifted his lines. On the first line, he paired Pounds with Fillinich and Leigham MacWilliam. On the second line, he moved Christian Cobb from defense and paired him with Jonny Goldberg and Paul Steinitz. And in the biggest move of all, he shifted Michael Kunza from forward to defense. The moves quickly paid off. Fillinich scored his first goal just nine seconds in the game, and B-CC dominated play throughout the period, although they failed score another goal. “That’s the best first period we’ve played all year,” coach J.T. Burton said. The domination continued at the start of the second period. With an additional skater on the ice because of a delayed penalty against Richard Montgomery, the Barons worked the puck beautifully, and Fillinich scored after tic-tack-toe passes from Jacob VanderVeen and Nathan Shearer. But just like last week when they were beating Wootton 2-0, the Barons suddenly lost focus, intensity and discipline. Richard Montgomery scored three unanswered goals in five minutes, the last two on power plays. The sudden turnabout left Burton searching for answers. “We haven’t played 45 minutes of hockey all year,” he said. “We either start fast or start flat and then either lose focus or gain it.” Unlike against Wootton, the Barons regained their focus against Richard Montgomery, scoring three goals in less than two minutes near the end of the period to take a 5-3 lead. B-CC tied the game shorthanded when Pounds carried the puck from the defensive zone, skated around the Richard Montgomery defender, and got a shot off. Barons’ forward Leigham MacWilliam, skating stride for stride with Pounds, arrived at the goal just as Pounds’s shot bounced off the goalie’s pads, and stuffed the puck in the goal. Less than a minute later, still skating shorthanded, B-CC scored again when Kunza carried the puck through a maze of Richard Montgomery defenders, stopped suddenly to freeze the goalie, and then tucked the puck in the corner of the goal. MacWilliam got the assist. With less than a minute to go in the period, Kunza passed to Jacob VanderVeen who skated down the right side and scored on a wrist shot. Even with the mid-period let down, B-CC outshot Richard Montgomery 19-7 in the period. The third period was penalty-filled (seven penalties were called; four on B-CC), and not much else happened until Fillinich scored his third goal with 90 seconds to go in the game to make the score 6-3. MacWilliam and Pounds got the assists. Just 33 seconds later, Richard Montgomery scored after B-CC gave the puck away in the defensive zone, and then with just 25 seconds to go Kunza scored his second goal of the game on a rebound. Pounds and MacWilliam got the assists. Fillinich attributed his scoring prowess to being paired with Pounds and MacWilliam. “Working with the two of them was great,” he said. “Ben Pounds was passing really well, and Leigham always seems to be where the puck is.” Kunza, who had two goals and an assist, said it took him a while to feel comfortable on defense, where he played most of last year for the Barons. “It was kind of weird at first,” he said. “I felt like I could generate more offense by playing on the blue line. I have more open room to start skating.” While there were many bright spots in the game, there will also causes for concern. The team’s letdown in the second period, the unnecessary penalties and the undisciplined play had Burton fuming and team members grumbling after the game. Players said there were pointed exchanges in the locker room between the coaches and players, and among the players themselves about whether Burton should enforce a more disciplined style of play. Some players defended Burton’s hands-off approach; others criticized it. There was no resolution, according to several players, With the win over Richard Montgomery, B-CC improved to 7-1 with two regular season games to go. If they beat Sherwood and Gaithersburg in their last two games, the Barons will finish second in the league (assuming that first-place Wootton wins the remainder of its games) and play Whitman (the expected third-place finisher) in the first round of the county playoffs. Whitman is currently 6-1-1. The Vikings beat Richard Montgomery 6-2 earlier this year. If the Barons beat Whitman in the first round of the playoffs, they will play the winner of the other semi-final game (Wootton vs. the #4 seed) for the county championship. Both teams in the final game will advance to the state playoffs. B-CC plays Sherwood Monday at 6 p.m. at Laurel. Sherwood is only 3-5, but beat Winston Churchill this week, 3-1, and lost to Whitman by only one goal earlier in the season. B-CC players, coaches and fans well remember last year’s game, when Sherwood scored two goals in the last 40 seconds to upset the stunned Barons. Ice Chips: Kunza playing defense creates more scoring opportunities for him and the team, but can also lead to scoring chances for the other team if he and his teammates aren’t careful. Because he carries the puck so often into the offensive zone, one of the B-CC forwards needs to drop back to the blue line to take his spot. Shearer did a particularly good job of this during the Richard Montgomery game… For the game, B-CC outshot Richard Montgomery 33-14, one of the few competitive games this year in which the Barons had an advantage in shots… A B-CC student held up a sign during the game that said, “If Jesus could play hockey, he’d be Ryan Haughey… When MacWilliam was called for a boarding penalty in the second period after checking a female player, he asked the ref why he made the call. Several fans heard the ref tell MacWilliam that he “should know better than checking a girl like that.” - Reported by Steve Hull Jan. 18: Wootton 3, B-CC 2 Barons fail to hold 2-0 lead and lose first game Only members of the B-CC ice hockey team know what really happened. How, after surging to a 2-0 lead against unbeaten Wootton in the biggest game of the year, the Barons seemed to lose their intensity, allowing Wootton to score three straight goals and snag a 3-2 victory Friday at Cabin John. With the win, the Patriots are the only remaining unbeaten team in the league and sit alone atop the league standings. The Barons fell to third, one point behind Walt Whitman. (Whitman has played one more game than B-CC.) This was the game that B-CC and Wootton had been building toward all year. Both teams were undefeated and generally regarded by other coaches as the class of the league. In the first period, B-CC erased any doubts that they—or others—might have had that they could skate with the high-flying, high-scoring Patriots. The Barons scored two first period goals (one by Kerry Goebel and the other, with just 29 seconds to go, by Paul Steinitz), kept the Wootton offense in check and did something no other league team had done this year—led Wootton after the first period. The Patriots seemed stunned and unnerved. They couldn’t solve B-CC goalie Ryan Haughey and couldn’t mount a sustained attacked against the Barons swarming defense. B-CC was in command. And then they weren’t. Inexplicably, the Barons started the second period uninspired and flat. Wootton quickly became the aggressor and the play—and momentum—swung in their favor. The result: a 15-2 shot on goal advantage for the period and a sense of inevitability that Wootton would eventually tie and win the game. “We lost the game before they even tied it,” coach J.T. Burton said. “As coaches, we could see it just slipping away.” The Barons were hurt by their lack of effort and the same fundamental flaws that have plagued them all year. The team has enough individual talent to overcome either uninspired play or flawed play against weaker teams—but no team can overcome both against a skilled opponent. In the second period, the Barons started drawing careless penalties (after having had none in the first period), trying to carry the puck through multiple defenders, and making risky passes. “Our forwards were drifting in the neutral zone trying to get a home run pass,” Burton explained. “We made the same mistakes today we’ve been making all year. We need to go to our systems.” In the middle of the period, B-CC had two power plays in which they didn’t get a single shot, and Wootton peppered Haughey with shots. Thanks to Haughey, B-CC withstood the Wootton onslaught until the Barons drew a hooking penalty with just a minute to go in the period. On the penalty kill, a B-CC player tried to skate the puck out of the defensive zone instead of making an easy clearing pass. Wootton stole the puck and scored on a wrist shot by Chris Punderbaugh with just three seconds to go in the period. Wootton tied the game less than three minutes into the third period when Punderbaugh broke through two B-CC defenders and snuck the puck under Haughey’s pads. Moments later Wootton was awarded a penalty shot when Miles VanderVeen made a smart defensive move and covered the puck with his body in the goal crease. With the game on the line, Haughey stopped Jeff Rubin on the penalty shot, and pumped his arm in the air. It could have been—it should have been—the spark that B-CC needed to get their heads back in the game. But it wasn’t to be. A minute later Wootton’s Scott Futrovsky swooped in from the right wing, carried the puck past the B-CC defense, and scored the go-ahead goal. B-CC had a 6-on-4 advantage for the last 30 seconds of the game, but couldn’t convert. Haughey, the team’s co-captain, said the Barons have a habit of getting “too content” and not putting “the pressure on” when they get ahead in games. “We just fell apart,” he said. Burton said he is frustrated by his team’s lack of focus and intensity. “We’re down 2-1 after the second period, and we’re arguing with each other as if we’re losing by five goals,” he said. “What we need to do is find out how to mentally rebound.” The Barons have until Friday to recover when they play a much-improved Richard Montgomery team at 6:15 p.m. at Cabin John. According to the MSHL Web site, Richard Montgomery is 4-1. If Wootton and B-CC win their remaining three regular season games, the Patriots would be seeded first and the Barons second in the county playoffs. In the first round, Wootton would play the fourth-seeded team, and B-CC would play the third-seeded team, probably Whitman. Ice Chips: The Washington Post stringer who covered the game said that Wootton and B-CC were the best public high school teams he’s seen this year in the Washington metropolitan area… Ben Pounds, Leigham MacWilliam and Michael Kunza had assists for B-CC… For the game, Wootton outshot B-CC, 34-16… According to unofficial stats kept by Haughey from watching videos of each game (including non-league games), MacWilliam leads the team in +/- rating with +18, followed by Goebel and Jonny Goldberg with +14, John Samuelson with +11 and Christian Cobb and Jacob VanderVeen with +10… Goebel leads the team in goals scored (11), assists (15) and total points (26) through 13 league and non-league games. Pounds is second in all three categories (10, 12, 22) and MacWilliam is third (6, 10, 16). In nine games, Kunza is fourth in goals scored (7) and in points (13). Samuelson is fourth in assists (7) through 13 games… The Barons have won 56.6 percent of the faceoffs they’ve taken. Among players who have taken 25 or more faceoffs, co-captain Sam Hull is best with 69.4 percent, followed by Goebel (60.9 percent), Goldberg (59.5 percent) and MacWilliam (58.1 percent)… Hull, who didn’t play against Wootton because of a separated shoulder suffered in the Walter Johnson game, won’t be in the lineup Friday against Richard Montgomery. - Reported by Steve Hull Jan. 11: B-CC 5, Walter Johnson 2 Victory sets up ‘Battle of Unbeatens’ Friday vs. Wootton The B-CC ice hockey team took another step toward an unbeaten season Friday, knocking off rival Walter Johnson, 5-2, in Laurel. With the win, the Barons improved to 7-0 in league play, but they face their toughest opponent Friday when they play high-flying Wootton, also 7-0. B-CC and Wootton will be playing for first place and the first seed in the county playoffs in February. The game will start at 6:15 p.m. at Cabin John. Against WJ, five different Barons scored, and goalie Ryan Haughey turned away 29 of the 31 shots he faced. Like all B-CC/WJ games, Friday’s contest was intense and hard-hitting. The Barons clearly had an edge in talent and out-hustled the Wildcats, especially in the second period when B-CC scored three unanswered goals. “We finally came to play in a high-profile game,” Barons coach J.T. Burton said. Kerry Goebel opened the scoring for the Barons two minutes into the game when he carried the puck from the corner and whipped a low wrist shot into the short side of the goal against the Wildcats’ backup goalie. (WJ’s standout goalie, Ryan Ulf, showed up late for the game.) Leigham MacWilliam got the assist. Ulf arrived shortly after the Barons scored, and he shut them down for the rest of the period. It looked like B-CC would end the period with a 1-0 lead, but with 31 seconds to go WJ scored on a wrist shot from about 10 feet out by freshman Vinnie Peratrovich, with an assist from WJ’s leading scorer, Daniel Cohen. Scoring that late in the period could have swung the momentum to WJ, but it was the Barons who carried the play in the second period. Six minutes into the period, with B-CC on a power play, David Fillinich scored off a rebound of a Paul Steinitz shot. Four and a half minutes later, Jonny Goldberg carried the puck into the WJ zone and scored on a perfectly placed wrist shot that had Ulf shaking his head. Miles VanderVeen got the assist. Ben Austin scored the Barons’ fourth goal after breaking past two WJ defenders. Fillinich got the assist. For the period, B-CC outshot WJ 18-9. WJ controlled play for most of the third period, thanks to four B-CC penalties. The Wildcats outshot the Barons 17-5, but they only got the puck by Haughey once on a power play goal three minutes into the period. Two minutes later, MacWilliam put the game out of reach on a shot from the high slot after a perfect pass from Goebel. The Barons’ victory came with a price. Co-captain and first-line center Sam Hull suffered a separated shoulder after being checked in the first period. He will miss the Wootton game and likely won’t be available until the playoffs. Hull’s presence will be especially missed against high-scoring Wootton. “Sam brings a defensive element to the first line,” Burton said. Burton said he plans to move Fillinich, who usually plays wing on the third line, to take Hull’s place. “I’m going to teach Fillinich to be a center this week,” he said. Burton said he will rely on two offensive lines against Wootton and will substitute Steinitz and Nathan Shearer into the lines to spell the regulars. The Barons got another scare when Ben Pounds hurt his ankle playing football last weekend. While Pounds was on crutches early in the week, Burton said that he is expected to be at full strength by Friday night. Wootton will be the highest-scoring team the Barons will face this year. Through six league game, the Patriots have scored a league-best 49 goals (8.2 goals per game); B-CC is second with 40 goals (6.7 goals per game). Wootton has given up 10 goals (1.7 per game), and B-CC has given up a league-least 6 goals (1 per game). B-CC and Wootton are “polar opposites” as teams, Burton said. “They are an extremely disciplined team, and we’re more free-form. They are fundamentally sound, and we don’t do anything fundamentally sound.” But, Burton said, B-CC has “more individual talent.” The key to Wootton’s play is how they work the puck in the offensive zone. They are both disciplined in their puck movement and creative. “They set up in the offensive zone and pick apart defenses,” Burton said. To counteract Wootton’s offensive skill, the B-CC defensemen will need to clear out Wootton players and the puck from the front of the net, and the centers will need to play conservatively in the defensive zone. Even Wootton’s high-flying forwards will have a tough time beating Haughey if the B-CC goalie gets a clear look at the shooter and the puck. B-CC and Wootton have played several common opponents, including WJ (Wootton won 6-1) and Magruder (B-CC won 5-3; Wootton won 10-4). The winner of the B-CC/Wootton contest will take over sole possession of first place and will stand a good chance of finishing the season undefeated and being the first seed in the county playoffs. After playing Wootton, B-CC will play league games against Richard Montgomery, Sherwood and Gaithersburg. The Richard Montgomery game could be a tough one. The Rockets are 4-1 and are in fourth place. Wootton still plays Northwest/Germantown, Springbrook/Einstein and Churchill. The team that finishes first in league play will face the fourth-place team in the county playoff semifinals. The second- and third-place teams will play in the other semifinal. Barring upsets, Whitman will be either the second- or third-place team. Both teams that play in the county playoff final will make it to the state playoffs. Ice Chips: Seniors Jacob VanderVeen and Michael Kunza both made terrific defensive plays in the third period. VanderVeen slid on the ice to block a shot from the point and then, while still on the ice, used his stick to tap the puck out of the zone. With five minutes to go, Kunza knocked the puck from the front of the B-CC goal with Haughey on the ice and the WJ players swarming in front of the net.- Reported by Steve Hull Jan. 2: B-CC 5, Churchill 1 Pounds tallies twice as Barons get key win Since their first practice in October, the B-CC ice hockey team has had one eye on January when the Barons would play their three toughest opponents—Churchill, Walter Johnson and Wootton—in a row. One down, two to go. With a balanced scoring attack and solid goaltending from Ryan Haughey, the Barons defeated Churchill Wednesday, 5-1, at Rockville. With the win , B-CC improved their league-best record to 5-0. “We played unbelievably,” said coach J.T. Burton. “Everyone had their assignments, and they did what they were supposed to do.” With a 2-3-1 record, Churchill is not the team they used to be, but they still are talented (especially defensively), well coached, and provide a formidable challenge for any team. B-CC met the challenge by scoring four goals in the second period, despite being outshot 17-11. After a scoreless and closely fought first period, Jonny Goldberg opened the scoring six minutes into the second period. Standing in his usual spot in front of the goal, Goldberg knocked in a pass from the corner from Leigham MacWilliam. “I was in the right place at the right time,” Goldberg said. Nine minutes later, second line center Kerry Goebel beat Churchill goalie Griffin Farha on a backhander, with assists from Ben Pounds and Michael Kunza. With less than two minutes to go in the period, MacWilliam scored a goal that had the crowd buzzing. Carrying the puck about 10 feet in front of the net, MacWilliam paused until Farha committed and then whipped a wrist shot into the goal. Defenseman Christian Cobb got the assist. Just 24 seconds later, Pounds scored on a wrist shot after a pass from MacWilliam. B-CC scored its 5th goal two minutes into the third period, when Kunza badly faked out a Churchill defender, shot the puck on Farha, and Pounds slammed home the rebound. Churchill ruined Haughey’s shutout bid with just 55 seconds left. For the game, Haughey stopped 31 of Churchill’s 32 shots. B-CC had 30 shots. “I really didn’t have to make any difficult saves,” Haughey said. “The defense cleared out all the rebounds.” With Churchill down, now comes an even tougher team, Walter Johnson Friday at 7:50 p.m. at Laurel (after a non-league game against a talented Landon varsity I squad Tuesday at 4:40 p.m. at Laurel). Struggling early in the season, WJ moved defenseman Ryan Ulf to goalie. Since then, Ulf has allowed just 1.78 goals per game. The Wildcats are 2-1-1 in the league, including a 2-2 tie with Churchill in December. B-CC and Walter Johnson tied 4-4 in a pre-season game in November when Ulf was still on defense. WJ’s style of play has proved difficult for the Barons in recent meetings. The Wildcats are an extremely physical and aggressive team. Their constant hitting has often thrown B-CC off its game and provoked the Barons into taking bad penalties. Plus, WJ has a talented defensive corps (less so now that Ulf is in goal) that has stymied B-CC’s constant efforts to stick handle into the offensive zone. This is, however, the most talented B-CC team WJ has faced in four years. For the first time in that period, the Barons have two lines that regularly score and a solid third line. (Last year in the playoffs, the second and third lines didn’t score a goal.) With the Barons’ strong defense and the best goalie in the county, B-CC is a formidable foe. The key to beating WJ (and Wootton the following week) may be the first line, which continues to struggle to find its rhythm. Even though they scored twice against Churchill, the line still isn’t in sync. They continue to try to do it all themselves, carrying the puck through a crowd when there are open teammates and shooting when a pass is the better option. Even though the first and second lines have equal amounts of talent, the second line has become the go-to line because Goebel, MacWilliam and Goldberg are constantly working together and looking for the best way for the line to score. The second line keeps even talented defenses off balance because they are in constant motion and always searching for the open man. The first line has the talent to dominate a game, but against good teams—like WJ and Wootton—talent may not be enough. Teamwork will be the key. Burton has been frustrated this year by the first line’s apparent focus on individual play. After the Churchill game he said, “We need to work on sportsmanship within the team.” Ironically, the first line players would score more if they passed more. Ice Chips : B-CC has its strongest and deepest defensive corps in years. The VanderVeen brothers, senior Jacob and freshman Miles, both play an aggressive, chance-taking style. (It’s easy to forget that Miles is just a freshman.) Even hampered by a shoulder injury that limits how physically he can play, John Samuelson has emerged as one of the most solid (and unsung) defensemen in the county. After playing forward the last three years, Cobb has adapted well to his new home on the blue line, providing both a much needed physical presence and mobility. Peter Asmuth, Alex Vaskov and Nathan Shearer have also played valuable minutes on defense … In the Churchill game, Burton moved Shearer, a freshman, to the third forward line, with good results. Shearer swarmed the net and had several scoring chances. The third line, anchored by Paul Steinitz and David Fillinich, is the best the Barons have had in the last four years … After the game, two of Churchill’s top players said that B-CC was the best team they have faced all year. (Churchill plays Wootton on Friday.) … Once again, B-CC kept the penalties to a minimum; the Barons were called for only four minor penalties, even with a whistle-happy referee crew on the ice … Maybe B-CC should take more penalties! The Barons’ last three goals were scored shorthanded. - Reported by Steve Hull Dec. 14: B-CC 5, Magruder 3 Five different players score in comeback win B-CC did something against Magruder last week that state championship caliber teams have to be able to do: come from behind against tough teams. Trailing 2-0 after the first period, the Barons scored four unanswered goals en route to a satisfying 5-3 win. “I think we showed a lot of heart,” Coach J.T. Burton said. “This was the first time we have been down all year. When we are losing, I put my best foot forward, and that means getting the best players on the ice that are fresh enough to perform.” Burton was working with a shorter list than usual. Five first- or second-line players were either unable to play (Michael Kunza), under the weather (Sam Hull, Jonny Goldberg and Kerry Goebel, who was hit in the stomach with a shot early in the game), or showed up late (Leigham MacWilliam). But other players stepped in to lead the rally. Ben Pounds scored B-CC’s first goal five minutes into the second period on a breakaway, after he stole the puck from a Magruder defender at the Colonels’ blue line. Pounds also had two assists in the game. The next two B-CC goals were scored by defensemen Jacob VanderVeen and Christian Cobb, who were skating as forwards when they scored. Midway through the second period, VanderVeen tied the game when he jammed home a rebound, and early in the third period Cobb put the Barons ahead, 3-2, when he carried the puck in front of the net, paused to make the Magruder goalie commit, and then slid the puck into the goal. Just 42 seconds later, Paul Steinitz made it 4-2 when he scored on a backhand shot from about five feet. Magruder put a scare in the Barons by scoring midway through the third period with MacWilliam in the penalty box, but MacWilliam put the game away when he scored with 1:47 to go. Burton said he felt confident his team would win—even when they were trailing 2-0. “I will be honest, I was never nervous. I knew we would win.” Immediately after the holiday break, Burton’s confidence will be put to the test when B-CC plays its three toughest opponents: Churchill, Walter Johnson and Wootton. Wootton, which is the one team in the county that can match B-CC’s talent, beat Magruder 10-4 earlier this year—and early on has been more impressive than the Barons, especially on offense. In three league games, Wootton has averaged nearly 11 goals a game against Blair, Magruder, and Gaithersburg. The Barons’ attack will be buoyed by the return of senior forward Michael Kunza, who will skate in the Churchill game. “If Kunza comes back strong with a new attitude and concentration for the main objective—winning the States—then we will have a great deep team that will be a force in the league,” Burton said. Ice Chips: For the most part, the Barons played disciplined hockey, totaling only three minor penalties… Goldberg had two assists, and John Samuelson and Goebel each had one… Goalie Ryan Haughey stopped 24 of 27 shots… The Barons had a total of 34 shots… The B-CC players participating in the Purple Puck Gonzaga Tournament will have a chance to watch first-place Whitman (5-0) play Gonzaga 2 in the tournament opener Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. at Ft. DuPont. The Vikings have beaten WJ in one MSHL game and two non-league games this season. When B-CC beat Whitman in a non-league game earlier this year, the Barons scored six goals against one Whitman goalie (Berk) but only one against the other (Hart). Whitman plays Wootton on Jan. 3 at 4:20 p.m. at the new outdoor Rockville rink. B-CC meets Wootton on Jan. 18 at 6:15 p.m. at Cabin John.- Reported by Steve Hull Dec. 11: B-CC 10, Blake 0 Eight different players score for Barons Here’s just one measure of how lopsided B-CC’s 10-0 victory over Blake was Tuesday at Wheaton indoor rink: The Barons scored during a 5-on-3 power play—and they were the team that was down two men. Playing with a newfound sense of spirit and teamwork, B-CC played its best game of the year, overwhelming Blake in every phase of the game. Talent-wise, Blake was one of the weakest teams the Barons have played in recent years, which could have led to individual showboating. Instead, B-CC passed the puck often and well. In fact, the referees recorded two assists on five of the Barons’ 10 goals—a sure sign that B-CC was making an effort to work the puck. In last week’s 5-0 win over Germantown, the second line scored all five goals. Against Blake, all three lines—and eight different players—scored. Senior Ben Pounds led the Barons with four points. What was most notable was that three of those points were on assists. Coach J.T. Burton had criticized Pounds recently for not passing enough. But against Blake, Pounds looked for an open teammate almost every time he carried the puck into the offensive zone. After the game, a smiling Pounds said he was motivated by teammates who challenged him to get five assists in the game. Said Burton: “I really liked the way Pounds played.” B-CC also crashed the net more than in recent games, scoring three goals on rebounds. Kerry Goebel and David Fillinich each had two goals and an assist for B-CC, and Leigham MacWilliam and Jacob VanderVeen each had a goal and two assists. Ben Austin and John Samuelson each had a goal and an assist, Paul Steinitz had two assists and Ben Shakelton had an assist. VanderVeen and Samuelson each scored their first goal of the season by carrying the puck the length of the ice and beating Blake goalie Brandon Bong. Burton was thrilled with his team’s effort. “They played their hearts out,” he said. “We played with confidence for a change. If we play like that against the other teams in our league, then I’ll like our chances.” VanderVeen said a key to the Barons’ success was that they had “fun” playing. “We’re a close team,” he said. “When we go out there and have fun playing, it shows.” B-CC hopes to have more fun Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Laurel against Magruder, but the Colonels will be a much tougher foe than Blake was. Magruder has a 2-1 record in league play, having beaten Sherwood, 5-3, and St. Johns, 6-2, and having lost to Wootton, 11-4. Ice Chips: The Blake game ended with 3:51 to go in the second period when Austin scored the Baron’s 10 th goal, and the “mercy” rule was invoked… The Barons played without first line skaters Michael Kunza and Co-captain Sam Hull. Kunza was suspended, and Hull was sick… Senior Sean Vaskov played the entire game in goal and made nine saves… The Barons had 36 shots… For the second straight game, B-CC did a good job avoiding the penalty box; the Barons were whistled for only two minor infractions… Another example of just how much B-CC dominated the game: When Blake had the 5-on-3 power play, they tried to ice the puck several times to get the puck out of their defensive zone. You’re not likely to see that again any time soon.- Reported by Steve Hull Dec. 4: B-CC 5, Germantown 0 Goebel gets hat trick as second line shines The B-CC ice hockey team has 14 seniors, but in the Barons’ 5-0 win over Germantown Tuesday it was juniors Kerry Goebel and Leigham MacWilliam who provided the spark and scoring. Goebel and MacWilliam were on the ice for all five of B-CC goals, with Goebel getting three goals and an assist and MacWilliam three assists. Jonny Goldberg and David Fillinich also scored while skating with Goebel and MacWilliam. “The second line was really unselfish,” Coach J.T. Burton said. “They are always looking for each other.” The first line of Ben Pounds, Sam Hull and several other players couldn’t get on track. “When they came off the ice, they were worried about their last shift, when they should have been worrying about their next shift,” Burton said. For the second consecutive game, the Barons—and the first line—were playing without senior Michael Kunza. In the first period, B-CC outshot Germantown, 13-5, and, for the first time this year, did most of the hitting. But the Barons got only one goal for their efforts. On a power play, MacWilliam got several chances down low, and Goldberg knocked in a rebound. Goldberg said the team has been working in practice on getting “gritty” goals. “I just saw the puck and whacked at it, and it went in,” he said. The Barons put the game away in the second period, scoring three goals. With six minutes gone in the period, Goebel top-shelved the puck to make it 2-0 after bang-bang passes from Miles VanderVeen and MacWilliam. Five minutes later, Goebel scored again on a nice pass by Goldberg from the corner. And with a little over a minute to go in the period, Fillinich scored after passes from Goebel and senior defenseman John Samuelson. Fillinich said that Goebel creates many scoring opportunities for his linemates. “Kerry moves the puck really well,” the sophomore said. “He’s always around with the puck because he’s so fast.” Goebel finished the scoring for the Barons late in the third period on a pass from MacWilliam. Burton said his team is starting to make progress. “We’re doing some of the things we’ve been working on, like crashing the net,” he said. Burton singled out senior Paul Steinitz for his play. “Paul had an incredible game,” he said. “Everywhere I needed someone, Paul was there.” He also praised Goldberg for playing “a great game.” For the second game in a row, the Barons kept penalties to a minimum, drawing only four minor infractions. Besides the lack of production from the first line, the team continued to struggle on the breakout, and they gave up a relatively high number of shots, considering the talent level of Germantown. For the game, B-CC outshot Germantown, 33-29. Ryan Haughey was solid in goal for the Barons. B-CC has two games remaining before the holiday break—Tuesday at 5:15 p.m. at Wheaton indoors against Blake and then Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Laurel versus Magruder. After vacation, the Barons play the three toughest teams on their schedule—Winston Churchill, Walter Johnson and Wootton—in a row. “We have a couple more games, and then we run the gauntlet of the Ws,” Burton said. - Reported by Steve Hull Nov. 30: Bullis 6, B-CC 2 Haughey is spectacular and the team solid in 3-0 loss to Prep No team likes to lose, but some losses are better than others. The B-CC ice hockey team found a lot to like in Friday’s 3-0 loss to a talented Georgetown Prep squad. The game, which in essence marked the end of the “pre-season” for the Barons, was probably the best they have played this year. Playing without senior Michael Kunza, the Barons played Prep tough, especially in the third period. Kunza was suspended for the game by coach J.T. Burton for throwing his stick near the end of the Bullis game, which B-CC lost 6-2 on Tuesday. Through six games, the Barons are 3-2-1, but 1-0 in the only league game, a 10-0 thrashing of Montgomery Blair. Ben Pounds and Kunza lead the team with six goals apiece, while junior Kerry Goebel has the most points with 11. B-CC plays three league games in the next two weeks, starting with a 3:30 p.m. contest Tuesday at the Wheaton indoor rink against a talented and physical Germantown provisional squad, led by Adam Goodman (previously a Springbrook player), Antonio Mestrre and Nick Yarmas. The difference in the Barons’ play against Bullis and Georgetown Prep was striking. Bullis isn’t so much a great team as a great line. They skated their first line, led by forwards Steven Burke and Nick Sorkin, for almost the entire game (despite having 16 players on the bench). What was discouraging for the Barons was that they—and not Bullis—were the team that faded as the game went on. In the first period after two Bullis goals, Leigham MacWilliam deflected in a Kerry Goebel shot from the point to draw the Barons within a goal. After Bullis scored again in the third period, Kunza scored a power play goal with just 2.5 seconds left to make the score 3-2. But Bullis dominated the third period, scoring three unanswered goals. As much as the lack of intensity late in the game, Burton was bothered by his team’s lack of discipline. The Barons were whistled for 10 penalties, three of which were for unsportsmanlike conduct. After the game, Burton talked with his team in the locker room for more than 15 minutes. “I told them we are going to have bulls eyes on our chests,” he said. “The other teams know we’re hotheads, and they know we’re undisciplined, and they’re going to try to incite us.” Added Co-captain Ryan Haughey: “We need to stop talking trash and retaliating and just focus.” Three days later against Prep, the Barons did just that. B-CC was called for only four minor penalties against the Hoyas. While they still didn’t hit enough and were frequently out of position, the Barons played with intensity throughout the game, and played their best in the third period. Haughey was often spectacular in goal, stopping 35 of 37 shots (the Hoyas’ last goal was scored on an empty net). In one sequence in the third period, Haughey stopped three straight close-in shots. Goebel also played well, especially in the defensive end. With the net empty late in the third period, he dove to stop a goal, and earlier in the game he slid to block a slap shot from the point. But playing without Kunza and against a tough Prep goalie, the Barons couldn’t muster any offense. They took only 17 shots for the game, most of which were from 10 feet or more. Overall, Burton was pleased with his team’s effort. “We played differently than against Bullis,” Burton said. Because of all the non-league games the Barons have played so early in the season, “we’re making adjustments now rather than in January like last year,” he said. “We have a lot to look forward to.” - Reported by Steve Hull Nov. 20: B-CC 8, St. Alban's 1 Goebel, Hull score twice; Vaskov shines in goal Immediately after B-CC's 8-1 non-league victory over St. Albans Tuesday in Laurel, the Barons' coaches and players walked to the adjoining rink to watch rival Wootton play Landon. It was a scary sight. Even though Wootton lost, 6-3, the Patriots demonstrated the kind of team play that B-CC coach J.T. Burton has been seeking from his squad. "They do everything we don't do," Burton said. "Watching them makes me feel very frustrated because we're not doing anything as a team." The Barons have the individual talent to win easily against relatively weak opponents like St. Alban's. But as the recent 4-4 tie with Walter Johnson showed, B-CC will have to play together to beat the good teams, including Wootton and this week's opponents, Bullis and Georgetown Prep. The differences between how Wootton and B-CC played were obvious. Frequently against St. Alban's, B-CC couldn't break out of its zone because the forwards weren't in position along the boards or the defensemen failed to pass to them, deciding to skate the puck out instead. Wootton routinely broke out with crisp passes to players who were where they were supposed to be. "We've got to do a better job breaking out," Burton said. "It's the foundation of working together as a team." Wootton also worked the puck well on the power play. The Wootton players cycled fluidly and worked the puck quickly, often resulting in open shots. B-CC's power play unit scored twice, but has yet to develop a rhythm and cohesiveness. There was also good news in the St. Alban's contest. The Barons once again showed that they have lots of individual talent and that the team has a huge upside. For the second straight game, the second line of Kerry Goebel, Leigham MacWilliam and Jonny Goldberg clicked. Goebel scored two goals in the first period with assists from MacWilliam. "I just need to get open and support Kerry," MacWilliam said. "And Kerry just needs to get open and fire the puck." MacWilliam also scored a goal late in the first period with Goebel assisting. In the second and third periods, the first line got into the action, with Co-captain Sam Hull scoring a pair of goals and Ben Pounds and Michael Kunza one each. David Fillinich and Assistant Captain Jacob VanderVeen also scored for the Barons. Kunza had three assists; Pounds two; and Christian Cobb, Paul Steinitz, and John Samuelson one each. Playing the first half of the game in goal, Co-captain Ryan Haughey faced only four shots. Sean Vaskov played the second half of the game and was outstanding, deflecting 11 of 12 shots. "Sean played very well," Burton said. B-CC will get a better measure of themselves this week when they play non-league games against two tough private school teams, Bullis (Wednesday at Rockville) and Georgetown Prep (Friday at Rockville). Bullis has returning senior forward Steven Burke, who was 2nd team All-Met, and junior forward Nick Sorkin, who was honorable mention All-Met. The Barons will also get a sense of how they compare with Wootton. The Patriots tied Prep, 4-4, two weeks ago and are also playing Bullis this week. - Reported by Steve Hull Nov. 16: B-CC 4, Walter Johnson 4 Goebel tallies twice in penalty-filled exhibition game The scoreboard said that Friday’s game between B-CC and Walter Johnson ended in a 4-4 tie, but Barons Coach J.T. Burton knew better. “We just lost a 4-4 game,” Burton said. In an exhibition game that had the intensity of a playoff contest, WJ outhustled, out-hit, and outsmarted B-CC. “WJ is just more intense,” Burton said. “They think they won.” The game was eerily similar to last year’s regular-season matchup between the two teams, which the Wildcats won, 2-1. Even though most of the players on this year’s B-CC team played in that game last year, it seemed like all of the lessons were forgotten. For example, last year and again Friday B-CC’s players tried time after time to stickhandle through WJ’s talented and aggressive defensemen. And time after time, the B-CC players lost the puck. Friday’s game was particularly frustrating because WJ does not have an experienced goalie. The two goalies who split time for the Wildcats were shaky, at best. But the Barons managed only 17 shots. “This game let us know what we need to work on, which is getting more shots,” said Assistant Captain Kerry Goebel. “If we outshoot a team, we’ll win.” From the opening faceoff Friday, it was clear that WJ came to play. Defenseman Daniel Cohen started the scoring for the Wildcats at 8:47 of the first period on a wrist shot. Just 15 seconds later, with the Barons down a man, the Wildcats scored again on a rebound in front of Barons’ goalie Ryan Haughey, who had a total of 23 saves. The Barons got back into the game late in the period when junior Leigham MacWilliam took the puck away from a WJ player with a crushing check. Senior Paul Steinitz retrieved the lost puck and stuffed it behind the Wildcats’ goalie. Steinitz’s goal seemed to energize B-CC, and the Barons evened the score eight minutes into the second period. On a power play, senior Michael Kunza passed the puck to Goebel, who scored on a one-timer. Senior Ben Pounds also had an assist on the play. Just three and a half minutes later on another power play, Goebel gave the Barons a 3-2 lead when he shot the puck from the corner along the goal line, and it somehow snuck behind the goalie. Pounds had the assist. But then B-CC’s lack of discipline caught up with them. Late in the second period, the Barons took three minor penalties, resulting in an extended 5-3 advantage for WJ. Wildcats defenseman Ryan Ulf tied the game with 21 seconds remaining in the period on a wicked wrist shot. For the game, B-CC had 10 minor and one major penalty. “We need a lot more discipline, on and off the ice,” Burton said. Eight minutes into the third period, B-CC went ahead, 4-3, when senior Co-captain Sam Hull won a faceoff in the WJ zone, and then deflected in a shot from the point by Goebel. With 2:12 left in the third period and a faceoff coming in B-CC’s end, neither of the Barons’ excellent faceoff men, Goebel and Hull, was on the ice. WJ cleanly won the faceoff back to the point, and the WJ defenseman scored on a quick wrist shot. After Tuesday’s season opening 10-0 win over Montgomery Blair, B-CC coaches and players said they felt like the game didn’t teach them much about their team. This game was different. “We learned a lot, not much of which is positive,” Burton said. B-CC’s next game is Tuesday at 4:05 p.m. at Laurel against St. Alban’s. Last year St. Alban’s was 1-6 in the private school league.- Reported by Steve Hull Nov. 13: B-CC 10, Blair 0 Goldberg, Steinitz, Kunza, Pounds each score twice for Barons A win is a win—especially in league play. But the B-CC players and coaches didn’t feel much of a sense of accomplishment Tuesday after their season opening, 10-0, rout of an outmanned and overwhelmed Montgomery Blair team. “It’s tough to learn something from a game like that,” said B-CC Coach J.T. Burton shortly after the game was called two-thirds of the way through the second period because of the “mercy” rule. From the opening faceoff, it was clear that B-CC was more skilled than Blair at every position. In fact, for the game, B-CC outshot Blair, 34-2. The Barons scored five times in the first period on goals by seniors Michael Kunza, Ben Pounds, Jonny Goldberg, Sam Hull and Paul Steinitz. Kunza opened the scoring by taking the puck along the boards, sweeping across the ice and then shooting from the other side of the goal. Pounds scored the second goal on a spectacular wraparound shot, and Goldberg scored B-CC’s third goal when he backhanded the puck from behind the goal line off of the back of the Blair goalie’s leg. In the second period, Goldberg, Kunza, Steinitz, David Fillinich and Pounds scored. The game-ending goal by Pounds was the most spectacular, as he carried the puck the length of the ice, maneuvering around all five Blair players. For the game, Pounds had two goals and an assist; Kunza, Goldberg and Steinitz had two goals; Hull and Fillinich each had a goal and an assist; Ben Austin had two assists; and Christian Cobb, Kerry Goebel and Jacob VanderVeen each had an assist. While the game didn’t reveal much about B-CC, there certainly were some encouraging signs. The newly formed first and second lines—Hull, Kunza and Pounds; and Leigham MacWilliam, Goebel and Goldberg—worked well together. “Either of those lines could be our first line,” Burton said. And the third line, which alternated among Steinitz, Fillinich, Austin, Ben Shakelton and Matt Kaplun, dominated Blair each time the line was on the ice. Said Steinitz: “We work very well together. There’s a lot of chemistry.” The defensive corps, though rarely challenged, played well positionally and avoided over committing, a problem last year. The Barons also avoided two problems that plagued them in the past—taking senseless penalties and playing down to the level of weaker teams. “There have been situations where we let up against teams that aren’t as talented, like Whitman last week,” Burton said. “We didn’t do that today.” There were some parts of the Barons’ game that need work, which isn’t surprising this early in the season. The power play, for example, seemed tentative and lacked flow. In one 5-3 situation in the first period, B-CC managed only one shot in 1:28. “We need to work on special teams,” said Co-captain Sam Hull. The B-CC players will learn a lot more about themselves Friday when they take on highly rated Walter Johnson at 3:30 p.m. at Cabin John in an exhibition game. - Reported by Steve Hull Oct. 29: B-CC 3, Severna Park 1 (non-league game) In keeping with what is now a four-year tradition, the first goal of the season was scored by a player who did not play in the previous year's season opener. This time, senior Alex Vaskov scored first on an assist from junior Kerry Goebel, with follow-up goals from juniors Michael Kunza and Ben Pounds, and 2 assists from senior Jacob VanderVeen and an assist from Kunza. * * * Feb. 23: Maryland State Semifinals B-CC&rsqu |