by Yusra Husain ’22

Sherwood celebrates a goal scored by junior Jeremy Isaacs, who gave the Warriors a 4-3 lead in their first game.  Photo by Yusra Husain ’22

Sherwood’s varsity ice hockey team began their season with a nailbiter, ultimately losing 5-4 to the Wootton Patriots. This was Sherwood’s first game in the Montgomery 1 division, which is the highest varsity division within the Montgomery Hockey Conference. 

The league works to balance out all the teams and place stronger programs into the upper division, and Sherwood proved their worth as a result of having a team with tremendous depth and the experience of nine seniors to go along with the prowess of their goaltender. Despite the challenges the upper division presents, such as playing higher pressure teams like B-CC and Churchill, Coach Shepard Winckler expressed his confidence in the team’s ability to succeed. 

“I’m not ready to sell us short yet. I’m curious to find out how we will perform, and I’m expecting us to go in and see what we are able to do depending on not just our individual players’ abilities, but how we gel as a team,” said Coach Winckler. Senior and Captain Christian Winckler echoed this statement with a belief that the team has many skilled players who can take them deep into the playoffs.

Compared to other sports at Sherwood, ice hockey is unique in that it functions as a co-operation. Sixteen out of the 22 players attend Sherwood, and the rest feed from Sandy Spring Friends School, Blake, McLean School, Avalon, and the B-CC cluster. A number of the players from Sherwood and these other schools contributed to raising Sherwood’s division status as they also play on competitive travel teams. Though the team has one practice and one game a week, team chemistry and cohesion proves to be strong despite having players from other schools. “Other than they don’t see each other at school during the day, it doesn’t seem to affect interaction on the team,” said Coach Winckler.

Since Sherwood fielded a larger roster this season, the team has created a combined JV team with players from Quince Orchard. This system serves as a way to provide more ice time for players who aren’t as experienced in order to develop higher competence. The coaches can decide who will dress for each varsity game, meaning JV players are essentially double-rostered. However, the team is restricted from sending AA or AAA players and seniors to JV unless they meet certain exceptions. 

Since the team is designated as a club, it has not been able to generate much support and popularity over the years from Sherwood. Nevertheless, this season’s games are going to be stronger, faster, and definitely worth watching. Senior Aidan Sachs wants all Sherwood students to know that “hockey is an exciting game, so we need an audience. The fans would definitely get what they are coming for. It’s something you don’t want to miss.” 

The Warriors next play the Churchill Bulldogs on Friday, November 5th at 9:00 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. To keep up with the team check out their regular season schedule, and follow their Instagram.