Riley Bucholz and Kate Casper
“I think our guys battled really hard, it just didn’t go our way this time,” said Mike Grainger, Assistant Coach of the Varsity Hockey Club. On March 2, T.C. students made the journey from Alexandria to Woodbridge to watch the T.C. hockey team defend their championship title to Washington-Lee in the Capital Scholastic Hockey League (CSHL) Championship.
Ending the regular season with a conference record of 8-2, T.C. had the best record in the league, having only lost to Bishop Ireton and Washington-Lee. The team entered the championship in round 2, beating Lake Braddock 4-1, going on later to defeat West Potomac 3-1 in round 3.
The night of the CSHL Championship, the Prince William Ice Center was bustling with T.C. and Washington-Lee fans. Often, regular season games get poor turnout, but the championship was unmatched. “I really appreciate the support, it means a lot to us. We love making the fans happy,” said left wing and center, William Anaya.
After the first faceoff, Washington-Lee started off the game strong, which, according to Grainger, the Titans were “not fully prepared” for. By the end of the first period, T.C. trailed 2-1. “We typically start games pretty strong, but in this game we were a little bit tentative at the beginning. We let in 2 goals early. That deflated our team a little bit, so it took us a while to bounce back from that,” said Grainger.
During the second period, most of the action was on the T.C. side, but no goals were allowed due to efforts by the defense and several saves by goalie Lucas Hernandez, a junior.
In the third period, with about 7 minutes left on the clock, Washington-Lee scored again, making the score 4-1. There was, however, a discrepancy with the fourth goal, as many fans from the crowd and TC players disagreed with the referee’s call. One player said the referees called penalties two to one, against T.C.
The last 3 minutes of the game were the most intense, with tremendous efforts by T.C. offensive players as the team made a comeback. Removing the goalie, T.C. coaches added another offensive player to turn up the heat on the Washington-Lee defence. This resulted in a goal being scored on Washington-Lee. With about 38 seconds remaining, T.C. scored the final goal of the night, making the score 3-4 to Washington-Lee.
Unable to tie up the game in the last few seconds, Washington-Lee won, with “We are the Champions” playing from the speakers to signal their victory. Despite the loss, T.C. remains in the top 10 best hockey clubs in the DMV (according to the Washington Post) with a rank at number 8.
“This year was a solid performance by the whole team, with many close games. Even though we didn’t have the outcome we wanted, everyone tried their hardest, which is all any of us could ask from teammates,” said senior and captain, James Townsend.
The comradery and bond the players have with one another is evident on and off the ice. Since the team is not funded by T.C., there are no practices, but sophomore Michael Planey says the team has “great chemistry.”
Although the team is losing 5 seniors, Grainger remains hopeful for the future of the hockey club, saying, “We’re going to have a strong team next year.” While the outcome was underwhelming to T.C. hockey players and fans alike, one thing is clear–these players battle to the end.
