Blair ice hockey preview

Please note: The Blair Blazer ice hockey team is not affiliated with Montgomery Blair High School or Montgomery County Public Schools.

The Blair Hockey team began its regular season play on Tuesday, Nov 18 with a 5-0 loss to Gaithersburg.

The Blazers obviously have a lot to work on in order to have a successful season, and it all starts with practice. Inexperience is the biggest factor weighing the Blazers down, as they have only one senior on this year's roster in Chris Zaldivar.

"This is going to be a hard season for Blair hockey," Zaldivar explains. "We lost a lot of key seniors from last year's team. We really have to practice hard."

The loss of 2003 seniors Mike Shields, Max Eckert, Dillan Irion, Matt Poness, Wes Gee and Zach Tinkleman will indeed set the Blazers back, but at least they know where to start rebuilding; shots on goal.

In the game against Gaithersburg, Blair's 12 shots on goal paled in comparison to the Trojans' 48. Junior goalie Graham Matthews played one heck of a game, rejecting 36 shots aimed at the net for blocks. "It's really hard to win with that many shots on our goal," Matthews says.

For Coach Kevin McCabe, the greatest challenge of all is teaching the game to his more inexperienced players, many of whom joined the team this year after playing roller hockey in the past, according to Zaldivar. Five players on the roster have never played ice hockey previous to this season.

The youth of this year's squad does have an upside, however. Even though Blair hockey fans may not have much to look forward to this season, future Blair teams will likely consist of many seniors, and maybe winning seasons.

This year's Washington's Capitals probably won't be the only losing hockey team in the area, but at least the Blazers will "have fun, losing or winning," says Zaldivar.

The Blazers' second game will be on Dec 3 against Walt Whitman at Wheaton Ice Rink.