Ice Hockey

PRESIDENTIAL politics --Ah, but I see you reaching already to turn the page. Half-mad with hunger for fleeting summer's joys, you want tales from ball parks, romances from the Catskills, fun features about those silly clothes the kids are all wearing on the boardwalk this weekend, hot-weather gossip from L.A. about George Raft's or Sean Penn's or Tom Cruise's dust-up with the bouncer at the Mocambo, golden-oldie news ("Never ages no matter how many times...

So we threw some bad guys against walls (sounds like my tenure at a local Catholic high school), subjected them to freezing temperatures (I was freezing all the time skiing and playing ice hockey), deprived them of sleep (happened to me all the time during my work career), and threatened them (I was threatened many times in my early years) - and waterboarded them to boot ("The truth about torture," April 23). To my knowledge, all these poor terrorists are getting three meals a day, get to put their prayer rug down five times a day, get any book they want, and have athletic facilities.

Gilman coach Zach Collins said his team "got hammered" when Boys' Latin beat the Greyhounds, 9-4, about two weeks ago. This time, the outcome was much different in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference championship Friday as Gilman posted a 6-2 victory over the Lakers at Piney Orchard Ice Arena in Odenton.  The Greyhounds' intensity made the difference. "It was by far the hardest they have worked all year," Collins said. "They were willing to do all the small things that don't always show up on the score sheet.

Varsity Sandusky retires from Boys' Latin ice hockey Jim Sandusky has formally announced his retirement as Boys' Latin ice hockey coach effective Feb. 28 after a decade of leading the program, according to a news release from the school. Sandusky will continue with the Lakers football program as the associative head coach and offensive coordinator. During the past two seasons, he led the Lakers varsity ice hockey team to runner-up status in 2013 and to a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association BConference championship in 2012.

Varsity Sandusky retires from Boys' Latin ice hockey Jim Sandusky has formally announced his retirement as Boys' Latin ice hockey coach effective Feb. 28 after a decade of leading the program, according to a news release from the school. Sandusky will continue with the Lakers football program as the associative head coach and offensive coordinator. During the past two seasons, he led the Lakers varsity ice hockey team to runner-up status in 2013 and to a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association BConference championship in 2012.

Ice hockey Centennial secured the sixth and final seed in the Howard County Cup tournament on the last day of the league season, as Howard and Mt. Hebron tied, 6-6. Centennial earned the berth by virtue of its win against Howard earlier this season. Had either Howard or Mt. Hebron won the game, that team would have clinched the final playoff seed, and the game came down to the last minute of play. The Howard Cup championship game will be played Friday, Feb. 17, at 10:30 p.m. at the Columbia Ice Rink.

Mount St. Joseph ruled the world of private school ice hockey before slipping in the past few years. But on Friday night, the Gaels climbed back to the top. Kevin Rodgers had two goals and four assists and sparked a pair of three-goal bursts that helped Mount St. Joseph roll to a 7-3 victory over St. Paul's in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association championship game before a packed house at the Piney Orchard Ice Arena. Mount St. Joseph (11-7-2) had won nine consecutive MIAA titles before coming up empty the past three years.

Growing interest in ice hockey is giving the six-year-old Maryland Scholastic Hockey League a new look.2Maryland Scholastic Hockey League champions:1992-93... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. DeMatha1991-92 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Centennial1990-91 .. .. .. .. .. .. ... ..DeMatha1989-90 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. DeMatha1988-89 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Boys' Latin

IT WAS ONLY a matter of time before John Buchleitner took up ice hockey. About the only sport the athletic 63-year-old hadn't tried was skating. A resident of Severna Park for 34 years, Buchleitner had been a swimmer in high school and played intramural basketball, baseball and touch football in his youth. When he went to work for Westinghouse Electric Corp., every time the company organized a new team, he was first to sign up. Although he's only been skating for two years and admits to being a C-level skater (ice hockey skaters are categorized from A, the best, to the beginners' C)

When Jim Barry, a native of ice hockey hotbed Boston, walked into Dahlgren Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis three years ago, it was love at first sight."

He sits quietly in a wheelchair at a long-term care facility in his native Guelph, Ontario. Aldo Guidolin doesn't talk - multiple strokes have robbed him of his speech - but his brown eyes follow ice hockey games on TV and the movements of those who call on the aging defenseman. At 80, life is a struggle for Guidolin, whose brawling 17-year career included four seasons with the New York Rangers and six as a popular player and coach with the Baltimore Clippers of the American Hockey League.

The Archbishop Spalding boys ice hockey team has a habit of playing a lot of close games and ending up on the right side of the score. The Cavaliers beat Mount St. Joseph on Friday by one goal to capture the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Assertion A Conference championship. And Tuesday night, John Sage (two goals) scored the game-winner shorthanded with 1:51 left in the game on a breakaway as Spalding (11-1-2) beat St. Albans, 3-2, in the first round of the Mid Atlantic Prep Hockey League tournament.

Gilman coach Zach Collins said his team "got hammered" when Boys' Latin beat the Greyhounds, 9-4, about two weeks ago. This time, the outcome was much different in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference championship Friday as Gilman posted a 6-2 victory over the Lakers at Piney Orchard Ice Arena in Odenton.  The Greyhounds' intensity made the difference. "It was by far the hardest they have worked all year," Collins said. "They were willing to do all the small things that don't always show up on the score sheet.

Submitting sports notices The deadline for submitting sports copy is 9 a.m. Monday. We prefer email (howardcountysports@patuxent.com). Questions? Call 410-332-6605. Ice hockey The third installment of the Reservoir Ice Hockey Club 's Community Showdown game is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 19, at the Columbia Ice Rink. The fundraiser pits this year's hockey club against members of the Gators community, including Reservoir faculty and Reservoir ice hockey alumni. There will be prizes, raffles, merchandise for sale and interactive activities.

Submitting sports notices The deadline for submitting sports copy is 9 a.m. Monday. We prefer email (howardcountysports@patuxent.com). Questions? Call 410-332-6605. Field hockey Long Reach High School's field hockey program needs players at both the varsity and junior varsity level. If interested, email Rashmi_Bhanot@hcpss.org for tryout details. Soccer Thunder Cruzeiro (rising U-13 girls, born on or after Aug. 1, 1999) are looking for two or three hard-working players to add to the roster.

The deadline for submitting sports copy is 9 a.m. on Mondays. We prefer email (howardcountysports@patuxent.com). We do not accept results by phone. When two Howard County teams play, players from both teams (first and last names) must be mentioned in the write-up. Questions? Call 410-332-6578. Ice hockey Metro Maple Leafs The Metro Maple Leafs U-18AA travel hockey team won the Tier II Maryland State Championship March 9-10, sweeping a best-of-three series against the Howard Huskies at Kettler Ice Arena in Arlington, Va. The Maple Leaf team is made up of senior, junior and sophomore players, primarily from Howard and Anne Arundel counties.

Guess what time it is, sports fans?No, not M-I-C-K-E-Y Mouse andthe Mouseketeers time, but time for more of those "Q's without A's."Yes, questions without answers produced by yours truly and you.It's a 24-Hour Sportsline (647-2499) production because 95 percent of the material in this column comes off the number you can call toblow off steam, offer compliments or raise "Q's" of your own.* Aren't we all rooting for Navy's seventh-ranked ice hockey team that opens 7:30 tonight in the National Club Hockey Tournament in Tempe, Ariz.

Yesterday's snow and ice forced the postponement of many high school playoff games in private school girls basketball and boys ice hockey as well as a key boys basketball contest. In girls basketball, the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland has set contingency plans for its tournaments in all three conferences depending on how the weather might affect schools opening today. If all schools are in session today, the quarterfinals will be played tonight with the semifinals moved from tomorrow to Friday night.

Friday's editions included a Q&A with Towson junior attackman Matt Hughes. Due to space constraints, here are some answers that didn't make the cut. Did you play another sport when you were growing up? Yeah, I played ice hockey. Why did you choose lacrosse over ice hockey? I think I could say that I was probably a better ice hockey player, but I just felt like lacrosse was more of my type of thing. Just the tradition of the game, the style of the game.

The Archbishop Spalding girls ice hockey team will play the Holton Arms School of Bethesda in the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League championship Friday at 6:20 p.m. at the Gardens Ice House in Laurel. It will be Spalding's first appearance in a championship game. Under coach Mike Stapleton, the team has 49 girls playing at the varsity level. The Spalding boys' team recently won its first MIAA A Conerence title in the league's 17-year history.