Final-second loss sums up season for Varsity hockey team

Published: February 11, 2009

The boys Varsity hockey team was in the first round of the playoffs this past Saturday against Westminister Christian Academy. It was a home-in-home series, meaning North played at Westminister on Saturday and then Westminister came to the Rec-Plex on Monday to play at North’s home arena.

That night, the Knights looked like they had all of the momentum and were taking the game into overtime after they tied the game up at 5-5 with a little more than 10 seconds on the clock. In the blink of an eye, that momentum was taken away as Westminister scored after the face-off with only one second remaining on the clock to seal the game and come within a game of moving on to the second round of the playoffs.

That heart-breaking loss did not seem to phase the Knights at all, as they dominated Westminister on Monday night with a 9-0 win. Because each team had won a game, they had to go into a 10-minute sudden death overtime, meaning the first team to score a goal won. Westminister acted as if the 9-0 loss did not even happen, as they came out in overtime and scored a goal to move on to the second round of the playoffs.

“It was probably our best game all year as a team,” junior goalie Robby Friedlein said. “But we got unlucky in overtime just like every other game. We were just really shocked after we had just killed them.”

As Friedlein said, these past two games against Westminister, where they proved that they could hang with and even beat a quality team but didn’t have the longevity, really sums up their entire season.

The season was full of ups and downs. They were able to tie Howell, a top team in the area, they were chosen to play in an outdoor hockey game which only seven other teams were able to do, but then on the other hand they weren’t able to really hang with the powerhouses such as Central, CBC, and DeSmet, which is necessary to go a long way in the playoffs.

“We just need to work better as a team because we have all of the talent there,” Friedlein said.

Even though the season did not necessarily end as the Knights would have hoped, there is potential in the future.

“We kept getting better as the season went on,” Friedlein said. “And these last few games show that we are going to be good next year because we have a good young team.”

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