Coming off a historic season, the Yorktown Hockey Club looks to build off of their massive achievements as they continue on into the 2022-2023 season. With the loss of several very talented seniors, our school’s hockey team looks to make up for it with their determination and potency.
“Our coaches tend to bring an intensity to practice. They really do their best to get us ready for the large playing stage. Overall everyone is very intense. We take it very seriously because of the level of our opponents,” freshman defender Peyton Tien said.
Although there are many hockey clubs in the area, players have found our school’s club to be laser focused and completely locked into the process that is required to achieve their ambitious goals.
“The focus and intensity is different from anywhere else that I have played. You can really tell that everybody wants to be there and wants to be the best,” Tien said.
The hockey team has set an extreme focus upon developing players correctly, in order to set themselves up for success.
“Because I am only a freshman, I don’t get that much playing time, but I get to use it as an opportunity to learn and develop with the help of my older teammates and my coaches,” Tien said.
Many returning players look to come back and build off of their past season with a deep venture into the playoffs.
“After we went 10-0 in the regular season, we suffered a disappointing loss in the first round of playoffs. I really feel like that loss will help motivate us to not let that happen again,” sophomore center Roger Allenbaugh said.
Even with hopes of making a deep playoff run, the support of the fans has and always will be a very prevalent part of the club.
“The support everyone shows means a lot. It motivates us to play better and it really adds to my love for the game,” Allenbaugh said.
As the season continues to progress, there are two goals that stand above the rest.
“We have very specific goals that we believe are achievable. We want a state championship and we really have to beat Washington and Liberty,” Allenbaugh said.
Both of these ambitious goals loom ahead as our school’s hockey team travels to the St. James facility in Springfield to take on a potentially formidable opponent in ArchBishop Spalding at the Capital City Thanksgiving Invitational.
The team looks to take home a win in this invitational to set them up for many high level opportunities. Along with that, this should serve as an opportunity to prove where they are as a team and as a program.
“During the beginning of this season I feel like we have been determined to prove ourselves. We feel like we haven’t really been given the respect that we deserve, so we are really focusing on proving ourselves right and others wrong,” Allenbaugh said.
So far, our school’s team is sitting at a solid record of 3-1. Although it is not the undefeated season that they experienced last year, there is still quite a strong belief that this could be the team that makes a play for the state title.
