Hockey: South Lakes Beats Herndon

The South Lakes Ice Hockey Club took on the Herndon team Wednesday in an
exhibition match designed to test South Lakes' ability to play in higher
and faster situations. The young team wound up beating the older and
more experienced team 7-1.

Since its formation in spring of 2009, the South Lakes team has been
playing in the Junior Varsity division of the Northern Virginia Hockey
League. After beating all but one of their opponents this season by an
average of more than five goals, and with a victory over Herndon's varsity
team, that may not be an option any more.

The game begane with South Lakes winning the opening face off and making the first shot on goal. Midway  into the first period, South Lakes was ahead in shots, and Logan Nasr put one away on assists from Raj Pilaka and Joe Owens.

South Lakes earned a penalty for interference, but special teams were able to kill that penalty.

With 3:18 remaining in the first, one of South Lakes' defenders let Herndon's Ian Jonesi break into the zone on a missed check. The South Lakes defense found itself tangled up in its own zone, and in the ensuing confusion, Jonesi scored off a fluky shot from the outside of the circle. The period ended at a tie score of 1-1.

South Lakes took control in the second period.

At 9:26, Dan Stromecki broke away into the offensive zone and buried a beauty over
the shoulder of the Herndon goalie to take the lead. Three minutes later, Corey Baumgartner repeated that process to take the score up to 3-1, and then at 5:09 Logan Nasr scored his second of the afternoon to go up 4-1.

Captain Nick Beulac scored off a pretty lob pass from Noah Rubin into the neutral zone at 2:41, and Baumgartner scored his second off a nice timing play from Beaulac at 1:10. And so the teams went to intermission with South Lakes leading
Herndon 6-1.

Stephen Galanti scored the final goal.

South Lakes (7-0-1 in league play) goes back to league play on Friday at 10:40 p.m. at the Ashburn Ice House, where they play undefeated Freedom / Dominion.

* Submitted by Fred Rubin