The hockey team is three games into this year’s season. The team is currently 3-0 and holds the title as the No. 1 team in the state.
“We have a great group of players who have played together for years,” head coach Jason Day said. “This consistency helps keep up good team chemistry which is a huge key to winning. Add some very talented skaters to that mix and confidence in their goaltending and teammates creates this state championship level team.”
Being the “top dog” in the state can bring challenges, but the Leopards are confident in their results by just playing their game.
“Obviously the more you win, the bigger the target on your head gets,” senior center Samuel Chen said. “Teams are going to come after you but none of us are pressured by that. We just play our game and roll through teams.”
The first game of the season was against Jesuit and the team won 7-1.
“I would say the biggest reason for our success so far is our offensive efficiency,” junior goalkeeper Christian Giordano said. “We are scoring at the highest rate in the league, and even though we are roughly evenly sharing our shot totals with our opponents, we are still scoring more goals per game.”
Junior Ian Peterson led the team with three goals. Behind him, seniors Nicky Terranova, Deegan Bement, sophomore Aiden Pallohusky and junior Mason Peterson all had one goal.
“We have a pretty good core on our team, and we have good offensive capabilities,” Chen said. “We don’t really have issues running up the score.”
The Leopards’ second game was against Richardson; the team came away with a 5-1 victory. Peterson led the team with three goals. Behind Peterson, Terranova and Bement had one goal each.
“In the game against Richardson, our offensive efficiency again was the reason for our win,” Giordano said. “We were close to even in shots on goal between us and Richardson, but we still outscored them by four goals.”
In game three, the Leopards took care of business defeating Mckinney 12-2. Many players contributed with assists to help their teammates score. Peterson and senior Jake Scanlon had three assists last Sunday; Pallohusky and junior Davis Miller brought in two along with junior Jason Day Jr. who finished with one assist.
“Sunday’s game against Mckinney was a great game,” Day said. “We really showcased such amazing individual talent with players like Ian Peterson and Jason Day Jr. The entire team stayed focused and worked together to put up an impressive 12-goal performance.”
Defensively, defending the goal for the Leopards, junior goalie Christain Giordano came away with 19 saves on 21 shots.
“We haven’t let up many goals this season,” Giordano said. “We have allowed the fewest goals in the league thus far at 4, but I think we let up way too many shots on goal considering our margin of victory.”
The team will host Prosper on Sunday as they embark on the rest of their journey this season.
“It’s pretty early in the season, but we think we can do pretty well this year,” Chen said. “We have our goals set on winning a championship and don’t plan on falling short.”
