The DeMatha Stags started off the season on a great note playing against Good Counsel and getting a great win by a score of 7-0 to start off the season. A few weeks later, the team opened league play with a 2-0 win over Archbishop Spalding.
Sophomore Diego Aguillen, a player on Varsity 2 says, “There have been a good amount of freshmen showing out and playing well, it is a younger Varsity 2 team.” Diego adds, “Head Coach Dylan Harrington has called them the best Varsity 2 team they have had in a long time.”
Things have not gone as well over the past few weeks, though. The Stags are now 2-4 overall this season. In the Mid-Atlantic Prep Hockey League (MAPHL), the Varsity 2 team is 1-3 (including an overtime loss) and 7th out of 11 teams in the A Division standings.
“The most recent game was a struggle and [we] didn’t get enough shots,” Diego says about their latest contest, a 2-1 loss to St. John’s. “The puck was in our half most of the game.”
Although they lost the game, they still tried their hardest until the end and showed some perseverance. Sophomore Javier Love talked about the team’s 4-1 loss to Saints Peter & Paul in November. “We need to work on clearing the zone and keeping the puck out, and possessing it in their zone, and capitalize on the chances we have in their zone.”
In Tuesday’s game against St. John’s at Rockville Ice Arena, the Stags scored in the first period. It was sophomore Vedant Bhalla, who tipped the puck and scored to open the game. The score stayed 1-0 until the 3rd period when St. John’s scored with around 5 minutes left to tie the game on a wrist shot.
The game went into overtime, and the first couple shots were saved. Then sophomore Chase Kuczynski took the puck and went fast to the goal, not wanting to give the goaltender enough time to get set. Unfortunately, Chase’s shot went awry and finally, with the 20th shot of the shootout, St. John’s scored to win the game.
Even though they are having a tough start to the season, the Stags have a chance to flip it around. The V2 Stags next league matchup is against Bishop Ireton, at home in Laurel at the Gardens Ice House on December 8.