It took the Langley Saxons a while to get their proper lines in order during the early going of the 2021-22 season. Eventually, the high-school club ice hockey team developed the necessary edge and skated to the tournament championship of the Northern Virginia School Hockey League.
The league-tournament title was Langley’s second in four seasons. The team finished with a 10-3-1 overall mark and eight straight wins, including a 4-0 playoff mark.
This season’s championship came after Langley had a 0-2-1 record after three regular-season matches. The Saxons then caught fire to finish the regular season with a 6-3-1 mark, second in the Adams Division and earning the fifth seed in the playoffs.
“Sometimes you experiment early in the season with lines and to get the cobwebs out, and there are other things that effect the roster. So it takes a while for things to come together,” said fourth-year Langley coach Patrick Keough. “In the end, we were a team that worked hard at playing well together.”
In the title match at the Ashburn Ice House, Langley rallied from a 1-0 deficit to nip seventh-seed Briar Woods, 2-1. Kam Khazai and Noah Scheinerman scored power-play goals for Langley, with Khazai having an assist. Freshman Harrison Smith was in goal for Langley and captain and all-state forward Mike Kuligowski were key players in the win. Smith stopped 26 shots.
During the regular season, Kuligowski was one of the team’s top scorers along with Scheinerman, Max Moser, Pete Kuligowski, Gino Colabatissto, Alston Zhang, Max Starukhin, Aidan Jacques, Zackh Cash and Ethan Zhao.
Other goal scorers were Khazai, Brady Nicholas, Christopher Valko, Andrew Abousleiman, Eric Bellino, Ethan Slamowitz, Jack Hutchinson and Sianny Keough. Other with regular-season assists were Tommy McDermott, Zack Jordan and Alex Oehm.
Leo Song was Langley’s other goalie.
“We were a team that could put three lines on the ice that could score, and that can be an advantage,” Keough said. “In goal, Harrison was very cool under pressure.”
In the playoff semifinals, Langley won another one-goal nail-biter, 3-2, over No. 9 seed Broad Run. Smith got the win in goal. Langley’s goals were netted by Pete Kuligowski, Andrew Abousleiman and a power-play game-winner by Zach Cash with an assist from Aidan Jacques.
In the quarterfinals, Langley downed fourth-seed Stone Bridge, 7-3, with Smith getting the win in net and Khazai leading the offense.
“It was a dogfight in every one of those games,” Keough said.
In the first round, Langley blanked 12th-seed Flint Hill, 9-0.
NOTE: Since Keough took over as Langley’s head coach for the 2018-19 season, the team has won two league-tournament crowns, including that first year, and made the playoffs the other two seasons, with a semifinal loss. “We have tried to grow the program with a developmental junior varsity program,” Keough said . . . Langley’s goal differential this season was 66 for and 28 allowed, including two shutouts, one against neighborhood rival McLean. Langley allowed just one goal in four other matches.