The start of the new year brought the same winning ways for the Yorktown Patriots and Washington-Liberty Generals, as the high-school club ice hockey teams began the week with a combined 12-1 record and were in first and second place, respectively, in their different leagues.
Yorktown (7-0) won their first two matches of 2022 and Washington-Liberty (5-1) was victorious in its first.
The Patriots are in first place in the Adams Division of the Northern Virginia School Hockey League. The Generals are in second place in the North Division of the Capital Scholastic Hockey League.
Yorktown nipped Georgetown Prep, 2-1, then blanked the Langley Saxons, 5-0, for its two wins.
Against Georgetown Prep, Dillon Segal had a goal and one assist and Blair Barta netted the other goal. Yorktown goalie Rowan Foose made 29 saves.
In the win over Langley, Jacob Kirshner had two goals and one assist. Barta, Noah Robinson and Christopher Ryan scored the other goals. Josh Litterst and Ethan Amundson added assists.
In goal, Jake Levy earned the shutout with 22 saves.
Yorktown has the lead in the Adams Division over second-place McLean (3-2-1). Yorktown nipped McLean, 3-2, in a match earlier this season.
Washington-Liberty’s victory in the new year was over Hayfield/South County, 4-2.
Kyle Wilson had a goal and one assist for W-L. Ethan Boyagian, Sean Lukas and Simson Jackson scored the other goals. Additional assists went to Harry Burmeister, Matthew Clarke and Thjis Bakker.
Laura South made 10 saves in goal to earn the victory.
Hayfield/South County fell to 3-1-1.
“When the season started, we were hit with a rash of injuries,” Washington-Liberty coach Rob Stewart said.
Burmeister, Boyagian, Wilson, Ethan Rostker and Jackson Nowinski were among those injured or missing matches for various reasons. Some have returned to the lineup now, but Nowinski is lost for the season with an injury he suffered during W-L’s high-school football season.
“Our injury situation has given some other players more of an opportunity to make contributions to our success,” Stewart said.
Chris Hildebrand, Oliver Black, Sam Lucas and Joel Vizard are other top players for Washington-Liberty, along with goalie Anders Nelson.
The Alexandria City/Wakefield team (7-0) leads the North Division of the Capital Scholastic Hockey League. That squad is scheduled to play Washington-Liberty on Jan. 21.