It’s hard to beat an ice-hockey team that doesn’t allow any goals.
Opponents of the Washington-Liberty Generals found that out in the Capital Scholastic Hockey League playoffs. W-L went 3-0, with three shutouts, to win the crown.
The third-seed co-ed high-school club team (11-2-1) blanked the No. 4 seed Forest Park Hockey Club, 7-0, in the title match. Washington-Liberty previously had skunked sixth-seed West Springfield, 8-0, in the quarterfinals, then won 5-0 over seventh-seed Hayfield in the semifinals.
The league title was Washington-Liberty’s first since winning back-to-back crowns in 2021 and 2022. The Generals lost in overtime in a shootout in last season’s championship match after leading, and fell in the semifinals the season before in a close setback.
Those losses gave the team extra motivation this season.
“We truly believe we should have won the championship the last two years,” W-L senior captain Joel Vizard told ARLnow. “This year we felt it was our time.”
The Generals won their final five matches, the last four by shutouts, led by goalies Carson Peddie (in goal for the championship match) and Dylan Klein. The Generals outscored those opponents, 31-0.
“In our playoff run, we felt we couldn’t give the slightest inch to any team,” said Vizard, who hopes to play club hockey at Virginia Tech. “We treated every game like a championship game, and our defense and goalies were outstanding.”
Some of the top defensemen for Washington-Liberty were Jackson Ullman, Brian Murphy, Nathan Myers, Tucker Wright and Rodion Starostin.
As for W-L’s scoring in the title match, Lucas Everett and Jacob Constantine Cook each scored two goals. Alexander Van Haaren, Parker Everett and Paul Burmeister had single goals.
Fletcher Black had two assists, with Vizard, Murphy, Van Haaren and James Jones having one each.
Washington-Liberty led 2-0 after the first period, 4-0 after two, and outshot Forest Park, 38-20.
“Forest Park came out strong and kept us in our zone for the first few minutes and Peddie made some big saves,” W-L coach Rob Stewart said.
In the three playoff matches, Vizard and Lucas Everette had six points each, Van Haaren had had five and Black four. Murphy and Jackson Ullman each had three each. Burmeister, Parker Everette, Jacob Onoffrey, Sami Wiriyotin and Griffin Renz all had two. Nathan Myers was another top scorer this season.
Leading W-L against West Springfield was Lucas Everett with two goals and two assists. Vizard added a goal and three assists. Renz and Wiriyotin each had one goal. Van Haaren had two goals and an assist, Ullman had a goal and one assist, and Black and Murphy each had an assist.
Against Hayfield, goals were scored by Vizard, Black, Wiriyotin, Onoffrey and Parker Everette. Ullman and Burmeister had assists.
For their play this season, Lucas Everette, Vizard, Ullman and Peddie were selected as league all-stars. Also chosen as rising all-stars were Black, Wiriyotin, Vlad Forrest and goalie Charles Fortner.
Stewart said there were unknowns about the team when the season started, because so many key players graduated from last year’s squad and some freshmen would have to play key roles.
“After the first few games, we saw this team had potential,” Stewart said. “We had good depth with four lines, and that was important. The returning players remembered that bitter taste from last year and that added motivation in the playoffs, so they wanted to put games away early.”
Washington-Liberty has one match remaining, against its Arlington rival Yorktown Patriots in the annual contest dubbed “The Battle of Arlington” on Friday, March 14 at 7:20 p.m. at the MedStar Capitals Iceplex.
Washington-Liberty won the contest the previous two years.
The teams play in different leagues, so they don’t meet until those seasons and playoffs have concluded.
