Sherwood Brings Home Division Championship

by Brynn Smith ’19

On Friday night, Sherwood’s ice hockey team became Montgomery 1 division champions in a 5-1 win against Northwest. With a record of 14-1-1 in the regular season, the Warriors only loss was to Rockville/Magruder. With exceptional goaltending by senior Ben Gruber, a solid defense, and goals scored by junior Sam Rudnick, junior Steven Blum, and senior Simon Gosselin, Sherwood took down the Northwest Jaguars.

Sherwood took a 1-0 lead during the first period and added another in the 2nd to go up 2-0. Sherwood’s second goal, scored by Blum, was quickly followed by a goal from the Jags, keeping the game close at 2-1. Despite the dogged efforts of Northwest’s offense, Gruber held the team to one goal. With dominating play on the boards and several effective hits from seniors Colin Bray and Gosselin, Sherwood held off Northwest’s offense, keeping the puck down in Northwest’s zone for the majority of the 1st and 3rd period.

Although Sherwood dictated most of the pace of the game, Northwest’s #92 showed impressive speed that Sherwood had a hard time keeping up with. While Sherwood ended took far more penalties than necessary, the power kill unit did an excellent job making up for the undisciplined play. Overall, Sherwood’s size, strength, and ability to keep the puck, wore down their opponents.

Sherwood as a whole played effectively highlighted by brick-wall goaltending, aggressive defense, and a beautiful passing play to bury a power play goal in the 3rd period. With chants from the student section, Sherwood brought home the 5-1 win.

“The best part of playing ice hockey for Sherwood has got to be the team,” said junior Joe Diuguid. “Being with the guys has been a wonderful thing to experience.”