Rockville, MD – After their first win of the season, B-CC Ice Hockey was riding high going into their matchup with Wootton Friday night. Unfortunately, that momentum was not enough for the team that has struggled mightily all year long to take down the Patriots.
The night kicked off with David High, Nick Mencher, Kiran Maltby, Jeronimo Castano Tellez, Peter Lanpher, Lukas Hartnett Mueller, and captain Ben Lyons receiving senior night honors.
The first period was by far the worst for the Barons. Lyons took a controversial interference penalty, and Wootton’s Justin Heller put the puck in the twine just a second after Lyons got out of the box. In the first 15 minutes, the Barons put only 5 shots on net, compared to the Patriots’ 15. If not for several heroic saves by goaltender Blake Schonebeck, this game could easily have gotten out of hand.
During the second period, the Barons started shooting the puck more and even finding several chances to score. They, however, were unable to convert on their 11 shots on goal, thanks to the consistent goaltending from Wootton’s Kevin Yu. Wootton did strike paydirt twice more during the second period, the first of which was Heller’s 2nd goal of the contest, and the other coming from Owen Goozh. Schoenebeck faced 8 more shots, making several sprawling saves, helping significantly with damage control.
As the third period began, the Barons looked like they had a chance to turn the game around. A quick goal from Maltby put the B-CC on the board with nearly 12 minutes remaining. Just over 2 minutes later, B-CC sophomore Julia Reitz chased a puck into the corner with Heller right behind her. The Wootton senior violently boarded Rietz, leading to his ejection from the game as well as a major penalty. Rietz’s brother Jacob stepped up and went after Heller, causing a big scrum which included wrestling opponents to the ice, punches being thrown, Schoenebeck getting involved, and much more. With the exception of the goaltenders, everybody on the ice was tossed, including many of Wootton’s top players. This seemed to be an opportunity for B-CC to even the score and send the game to overtime. There was a clear momentum shift, with B-CC outshooting Wootton in the final frame 8-1. Yu remained impressive in net for the Patriots, only letting up 1 more goal on a Leo Alley-Strocher feed to Lyons for his 4th on the year after the Barons elected to pull Schoenebeck for an extra attacker.
The Barons ended up losing 3-2 thanks in great part to impressive showings from both goaltenders. Jacob Reitz had a few main takeaways from the loss. “Definitely our best game of the year. I think we had lots of good opportunities, but like, we could have worked on our breakouts and our back checking.” Schoenebeck also had a fairly positive outlook on the Barons’ defeat. “We worked hard during the empty net session. Not a single good shot was attempted. I think our offense really turned it up and gave it their hardest for our seniors.”
Once again in Rockville for their final game of the regular season, the Barons take on Upper Montgomery on Friday, January 23, at 8:45 pm.
