Stone Bridge Buries Past in Championship

Team Felt Pressure Going Into Game

By Jeff Nelson

Saturday, March 1, 2008

When there is no tomorrow, no next year for seven seniors, there is pressure. When your team has more talent than before, more talent than anybody else, there is more pressure. And when you have failed the past two years to win a championship that seemed inevitable, and when you have one more chance to win that championship . . . well, you can pretty much guess the weight felt by Stone Bridge on Friday night.

“That’s so much pressure, seriously,” Bulldogs Coach John Lynch said. “Because it just keeps building and building.”

All of that pressure was finally and mercifully relieved when Stone Bridge defeated Woodbridge, 7-4, for its first Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League title since back-to-back triumphs in 2001-02 and 2002-03.

The victory celebration was as much about joy as liberation from a year-long burden.

“It’s a big relief,” said senior Sean Hollern, who scored three goals.

“Last year, it was brutal,” said senior Craig Kitto, who had three assists. “Seeing [Osbourn Park] with that trophy made me sick.”

From the moment the Bulldogs lost their second straight NVSHL title game, they had but one focus: “Not to make it to the championship game and choke like usual,” said senior Bill Bock, who had two goals and one assist.

Early in Friday night’s game, there was an eerie similarity to last year’s championship contest. The Bulldogs were controlling the pace of play and getting more shots than Woodbridge, but Vikings goalie T.J. Cuneo was making save after save after his teammates staked him to a 1-0 lead.

Lynch said he did think back to last season, when Osbourn Park goalie Dylan Barber made 57 saves to stun the Bulldogs in a 3-1 defeat. But he remained confident because “we had the horses.”

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Stone Bridge's No. 12 Sean Holern and No. 82 William Brock celebrate Holern's hat-trick goal during Friday's Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey championship game. (Joel Richardson)

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During the second period, Stone Bridge's No. 12 Sean Holern returns to the bench after scoring his second goal. (Joel Richardson)

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Stone Bridge's No. 12 Sean Holern beats Woodbridge's goalie, Dean Mercer, for his second goal of the second period. (Joel Richardson)

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Stone Bridge's No. 12 Sean Holern raises his arms in jubilation after scoring a hat-trick goal in the third period. (Joel Richardson)

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The Bulldogs celebrate their victory over Woodbridge. (Joel Richardson)

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The Bulldogs drop their gloves and sticks on the ice to celebrate their Friday night victory over Woodbridge. (Joel Richardson)

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Sean Holern, left, congratulates William Brock after the game. (Joel Richardson)

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Ultimately, his team’s talent and persistence paid off. Brendan Ahearn tied the score with four minutes remaining in the first period, and Eddie Cutler put the Bulldogs ahead less than three minutes later.

After Woodbridge evened the score early in the second period, Stone Bridge struck back on a pair of goals by Hollern.

The pesky Vikings answered on a power-play goal with less than a minute to play in the second period, but the Bulldogs owned the third period.

Hollern completed his hat trick with 8 minutes 15 seconds to play and Bock gave Stone Bridge more breathing room with 5:22 remaining.

Woodbridge managed one more goal by Raymond Furr, his second of the game, but Bock’s empty-netter in the final seconds provided a prelude to the Bulldogs’ long-awaited celebration.

Afterward, the Bulldogs credited the past — and all that pressure — with helping them prevail.

“It just made us want it more,” said senior Brandon Ruhe, who had an assist. “It just kicked us in the butt. And losing [to Langley in the regular season] this year, that made it so much better. This was the year of revenge.”

Stone Bridge had its 28-game regular season winning streak snapped by Langley in mid-December, but came back to beat the Saxons in the NVSHL semifinals. By beating Woodbridge on Friday, the Bulldogs avenged their title game loss from two seasons ago.

If only they could have played Osbourn Park along the way, every bitter memory could have been replaced. But nobody from Stone Bridge was complaining.

“Every year when we start out, we want to win the last game of the season,” Lynch said. “And we’ve done it now.”

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks