ROCKVILLE, MD. – On Friday night, a winless B-CC ice hockey team took the ice against the 3-1 Wootton Patriots, looking to pull off a major upset in the Maryland Student Hockey League. B-CC, however, struggled greatly against the strong Patriots team due to the absence of several key players.
Around halfway through the first period, Patriots’ forward Owen Goozh scored his 3rd goal of the season, assisted by Justin Heller. In the minutes following the Wootton strike, Heller took a roughing penalty, leading to a Barons power play. B-CC was without their top 3 goal scorers on Friday night, leading to not only an easy penalty-kill by the Wootton defense, but also a shorthanded goal by Nathan Geeng, assisted by Goozh. At the end of the first frame, the Patriots led 2-0, only outshooting the Barons by 1.
The beginning of the second period was when the Barons struggled the most. It only took Goozh 59 seconds to score his second goal of the game, and just about 3 minutes later, Heller found the back of the net for the 5th time this season. Immediately following Heller’s goal, Wootton found themselves on the power play, due to a high-sticking penalty credited to Barons defenseman Grady Jiggens. Just 21 seconds into the Patriots’ power play, Michael Klimantov lit the lamp for the 6th time this season, extending the lead to 5-0. All of the scoring for the second period came within the first 5 minutes, but Wootton was still able to keep consistent pressure on the Barons throughout, outshooting B-CC 15-5.
B-CC did a good job of damage control during the 3rd and final period, outshooting the Patriots by 1 and killing 3 penalties. B-CC did, however, squander 2 different power-play chances. With 42 seconds left in the game, Heller once again found paydirt, sealing the 6-0 win for Wootton.
B-CC was missing several notable players on Friday, including their leading goal scorer in Leo Alley-Strocher, and defenseman Jacob Reitz. Reitz’s absence meant the Barons were down to just 3 defenseman, forcing the already fatigued B-CC blue-liners to take double shifts. When reflecting on the game, Barons defenseman and captain Ben Lyons recalled “even after the first period, just being gassed.” His fellow blue-liner and senior Grady Jiggens offered his input, citing that “when you get super tired, your brain stops working as fast [and] you just make worse decisions overall.”
It is also worth noting that the stats do not always tell the story. B-CC’s goaltender Blake Schoenebeck stopped 22/28 shots he faced, coming up with several key saves. B-CC’s defense has struggled mightily throughout the season, and Schoenebeck has shown how effective he can be, despite facing constant pressure.
This Friday, the now 0-5 Barons will wrap up the first half of their season against an underperforming Sherwood Warriors team. The game will be played at the Rockville Ice Arena with puck drop at 8:45.
