Stone Bridge Must Rebuild to Defend

By Jeff Nelson

Thursday, March 6, 2008

When Stone Bridge captured the Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League title last Friday, one of the area's most talented senior classes finally earned the championship that had eluded it in the previous two title games.

Now the Bulldogs must start planning for life without those seven seniors -- six of whom played considerable minutes -- and focus on putting together a team capable of repeating.

"There's probably going to be a drop-off" next season, Stone Bridge Coach John Lynch said. "We won't be able to roll out three lines like we did this year."

The Bulldogs typically field one of the deepest teams in the league, and replenishing that depth will start soon in the Ashburn Spring Hockey League, which will allow Lynch to play some incoming eighth-graders with his current freshmen, sophomores and juniors.

Juniors Eddie Cutler and Richard Davidson and sophomores Joshua Buckingham and Nicholas Wirth all reached double digits in points this season and junior Andrew Ansell is another solid player mentioned by Lynch.

The Bulldogs also bring back junior goalie Jordan Pohl to replace senior Spencer Nielsen. Pohl had a 1.25 goals against average as the backup this season and started in last season's championship game.

Langley Still Trying

This season's four division winners -- Stone Bridge, Osbourn Park, Woodbridge and Langley -- are the perennial powers in the NVSHL.

But one of those teams has yet to win a championship in the league's seven seasons.

"Of course it's frustrating," said Langley Coach Rob Faktorow, whose team gave Stone Bridge its only regular season loss but fell to the Bulldogs in the playoff semifinals.

"We've had our chances and some great teams, and anything can happen in the playoffs. We just haven't finished it. I think the players would love to take that home with them and it hasn't happened."

The Saxons were tied with Stone Bridge at 2 until the Bulldogs took the lead with 1 minute 50 seconds remaining. Stone Bridge added an empty-net goal, sending Langley home short of its goal again.

"We want that championship and we're competitive, but I wouldn't trade that for the fact that I believe Langley is the best club in Virginia in terms of what the players take away from it," Faktorow said. "You certainly want championships, but if you don't win them, you want to take away lifelong experiences. In the end of the day, it's hard to win championships."

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks