Stone Bridge Hockey Dominates

By Jeff Nelson

Saturday, January 31, 2009

From a far section of bleachers in the Prince William Ice Center, Dylan Talbot and Seve Cordova watched their Woodbridge teammates give up goal after goal last night, unable to do anything about it.

The agony did not last long, however.

Less than five minutes into the second period, top-ranked Stone Bridge took a 10-0 lead over the eighth-ranked Vikings, thereby enacting the Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League's 10-goal mercy rule.

As both teams left the ice, barely a half-hour after stepping onto it, everyone in the building seemed stunned.

"It's always been tough against them," said Stone Bridge defenseman Kyle Broadbent, one of seven Bulldogs to score. "I'm really surprised."

Cordova and Talbot, the Vikings' second- and third-leading scorers, respectively, were relegated to spectator status because of automatic suspensions they drew for game misconduct penalties against Osbourn Park last Friday.

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Stone Bridge Routs Woodbridge

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Stone Bridge's Edward Cutler reacts after scoring his team's ninth goal midway through the second period. (Joel Richardson)

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Stone Bridge's Brendan Ahearn is checked by Woodbridge's Ryan Moyer. (Joel Richardson)

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Stone Bridge's Richard Davidson skates past Woodbridge's Luke Guffey, left, and Shaughn Shields to score in the first period. (Joel Richardson)

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Stone Bridge's Brian Brock puts a move on Woodbridge's Patrick DeMarinis during the first period. (Joel Richardson)

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Stone Bridge's Andrew Baron puts a backhand by goalie Dean Mercer in the first period. (Joel Richardson)

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Stone Bridge's Brendan Ahearn tries to shoot past Woodbridge's Kevin Tenner in the first period. (Joel Richardson)

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Woodbridge (6-2) also played without its top defenseman, Pat Beech, who hurt his shoulder a few weeks ago.

The Vikings were expected to be one of the few teams to challenge Stone Bridge this season. But without three members of its top line, Woodbridge couldn't make the rematch of last year's NVSHL title game - won by the Bulldogs - even remotely competitive.

Still, Vikings Coach Mike Strycharz refused to focus on who didn't play.

"We can't blame that loss on the missing players," he said. "We flat-out got outworked. That was the bottom line. Stone Bridge came to play hockey. I don't know what we came to do."

Stone Bridge (7-0) scored twice in the game's first three minutes and led 6-0 after the first period. In those 15 minutes, the Bulldogs outshot the Vikings, 19-3.

Afterward, Stone Bridge goalie Bobby Burke said the Bulldogs won't expect it to be this easy if they face a full-strength Woodbridge team in the postseason.

"We can't take them lightly," said Burke, who had to stop just four shots. "We knew two of their best players weren't out there, and if we see them in the playoffs, they'll be a tough team to beat. So we'll just have to come out and play like we did today."

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks