Ice hockey wins first game in a year

The Blair Community ice hockey team is not affiliated or sponsored by the Montgomery Blair High School athletic program or Montgomery County Public Schools. The team is an independent group of Blair students.

Three minutes into the third and final period, the Blair Community Ice Hockey team was down 4-3 in their game against Washington International School (WIS), however the team responded by scoring five goals in the remaining 12 minutes to win 8-4 and the team's first win in over a year.

With the win, Blair improved their record in the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League to 1-1 and recorded their first victory in two seasons, as the 2003-2004 squad failed to win a game. Blair earned the win in a tough fought game against WIS in which the first two periods ended in tie scores. Despite more puck possession and shots on goal Blair was unable to pull away from WIS until the final 12 minutes of the game.

Senior Brad Gee single-handedly sparked the turn around for Blair as he scored three unassisted goals and an assist in the third period. Gee scored at 11:30, shortly after WIS took the lead in the third period, to tie the game. Senior Neal Vasilak then scored one of his three goals at 9:35 to take the lead for Blair. Seconds later Gee would help add the finishing touches to Blair's victory scoring an unassisted goal to extend the lead to 6-4.

Gee and Vasilak sparked the offense as they combined for six of Blair's eight goals, including five in the last period. Vasilak displayed his deft puck handling skills as he continually skated through numerous defenders to release a powerful shot or dish the puck to an open teammate. Vasilak returns to the team as a valuable scoring asset after not playing last season.

Blair struggled to put the puck in the back of the net in the beginning of the game despite having several power plays including a two-man advantage for more than a minute in the first period. However, Blair's scoring difficulties were in part due to the stellar play of WIS's goalie who tallied 13 saves in the first period and 24 in the game. When Blair finally started capitalizing on opportunities the bulk of Blair's goals came from their first line of Gee, Vasilak and freshman Julian Shapiro, one goal and one assist. Freshman Alex Sandberg-Bernard also contributed a goal at the end of the second period off an assist from senior Nathan Barrymore.

The game was quite physical and both teams's played aggressively. However, Blair's aggression led to a costly eight penalties that accounted for 19 minutes in the penalty box. Junior Jake Drengwitz was given a five-minute game misconduct penalty and ejected from the game for a hard check from behind. Dregnwitz will also have to serve a one-game suspension. Blair was able to hold WIS to only one goal during the five-minute penalty, during which Vasilak also got a two-minute slashing penalty. However, against stronger opponents penalties could hurt Blair.

Blair's defense played well but was susceptible to fast breaks, which led to several WIS goals. Blair's defense got caught pushing up too far and let the WIS players skate to wide-open fast breaks, which senior goalkeeper Graham Mathews had little chance of stopping. However, Blair's defense was effective in killing penalties and playing physically. Junior Lee Shields had a solid game playing in the back. Senior Nick Falgout also played well on defense.

In the third period Mathews was on fire in the net, allowing only one goal on ten shots to help secure the win. He combined with sophomore Robert Ginsberg, who played part of the first period due to Mathews missing a mouth guard, to make 20 saves.

The Blair Community Ice Hockey team will next take on Damascus on Friday, Dec. 10 at Frederick Ice Rink at 9:00 p.m.