Stone Bridge Hockey Looks Back

Bulldogs See Undefeated Season End Abruptly

By Jeff Nelson

Friday, February 27, 2009

As Stone Bridge's players and coaches walked toward the Ashburn Ice Arena exit Wednesday, they had to pass O'Connell's locker room, still noisy from the Knights' ongoing celebration.

Some looked disgusted at having lost their Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League semifinal, 4-3, in overtime. Others looked dejected. Stone Bridge Coach John Lynch tried to hide his emotions but later admitted what could plainly be seen: He was devastated.

"You work to play that last game," Lynch said. "And you build everything to play that last game. Then you get to two days before [the championship, and lose]."

After winning the NVSHL title last season, the Bulldogs entered Wednesday with 20 wins in a row. But for the third time in four years, the Bulldogs could not complete an undefeated season.

In 2005-06 and 2006-07, they lost in the championship games to Woodbridge and Osbourn Park, respectively.

Last season, they lost to Langley in the regular season then rolled through the playoffs, leading some players to believe an old theory.

"Getting a loss out of the way does help," senior Kyle Broadbent said, "because your confidence isn't as high. It brings you down a notch and lets you know any team can beat you at any given time."

Senior Andrew Ansell said, "We've always done good, but there's always one game we lose, and it maybe seems like we should do it earlier in the season and not when it really matters."

Before Wednesday's game, Lynch said this team was more vulnerable than last season's powerhouse. For evidence, there was the Bulldogs' narrow 3-2 regular-season victory over O'Connell.

In the rematch, the Bulldogs opened well, getting goals from Steven Berry and Richard Davidson to take a 2-1 lead after the first period. But the game slowed down in the second period with 12 penalties (seven of them by Stone Bridge), and O'Connell equalized on a power play goal with 35 seconds remaining before intermission.

The Knights took their first lead with 3 minutes 48 seconds remaining in the game, putting the Bulldogs on the brink of elimination. But Ansell responded with a dramatic goal on the power play with two minutes left.

"I just came out of the corner and went at his five hole, and it was pretty cool," Ansell said. "The fans went nuts. It was quite a rush."

From that high, Stone Bridge experienced the ultimate low with less than a minute remaining in overtime.

By losing, five Stone Bridge seniors who were four-year players ended their prep careers. During their time in the program, Ansell, Broadbent, Eddie Cutler, Eric Delong and Jordan Pohl won 48 games and lost four. But three of those came in the playoffs.

"Is it discouraging?" Lynch asked. "It could be if you look at the fact that we won only one of three [title games]. But you can look at it as we had three chances.

"Next year, our goal is to play the last game of the season."

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks