by Matthew Reider, Staff Writer
The Herndon-South Lakes Varsity Hockey Club and Reston’s SkateQuest welcomed more than 100 friends, family members, and supporters on Jan. 31. They were honoring four graduating seniors in their final home game of the 2024-25 season. They were also hosting
Langley High School—the top team in the Adams division of the Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League. These teams are the top two in their division, and the game did not disappoint. Langley pulled out the win, 5-3, with the final goal being an empty netter with 51
seconds remaining. HSL led the shot talley 27-16, but Langley’s goalie Harrison Smith (#55) continued to keep pucks out of the net as he has done all season.
Prior to the game, the Herndon South Lakes team introduced their senior class
and honored their parents. The recognition included applause for # 22, Drew
Barbieri and # 28 Hayden White (Alternate Captain) of South Lakes High
School, # 19 Ryan Jones (Alternate Captain), and # 39 Kai Blevins - the starting
goalie and Captain of the HSL team.
After the ceremonies, the two teams faced off for the game. The visitors struck
first, with Langley’s James Wu (#58) firing a backhander past Blevins to take the
early lead 1:30 seconds into the first period. After a bit of back and forth play,
HSL’s Scotty Roland (#24) tied the match after Ryan Jones (#19) spotted him for a
great backdoor assist.
Langley struck again early in the second period, with # 14 Nicholas Samburg
scoring his third goal of the regular season just 35 seconds after the puck drop.
Herndon-South Lakes applied some pressure, but the game threatened to get away from them when # 60 Alexander Oehm scored twice in ten seconds - both goals in the 10th minute of the second period, and both assisted by # 38 Owen Slamowitz. Oehm is Langley’s leading
scorer with nine goals in nine games.
His first came from behind the net and bounced around the post, but the second was a result of some nice tic-tactoe passing from # 14 Nicholas Samburg to Slamowitz to Oehm. With the score now Langley 4 and HSL 1, the Herndon-South Lakes coaches used their only
time out to impart some wisdom. It must have worked, as the next few minutes were evenly matched.
At the end of the second period, a roughing minor with two seconds left setup a power play at the start of the third. 50 seconds into the third period, Noah White (#2) of the Herndon-South Lakes team scored, bringing HSL within two. Owen Slamowitz was called for interference with a little over 5 minutes left in the game, and the man advantage would once again help HSL close the gap. Five seconds into the ensuing power play, defender Stephen Reider (#52) fired a slapshot in from the blue line. It hit traffic in front of the net, and nestled home - bringing HSL within one goal. With the score Langley 4, and Herndon South Lakes 3, the final five minutes were a battle.
With a little over one minute left, HSL pulled their goalie from the crease in hopes that the numerical advantage would allow them to tie it up. Instead, Langley grabbed control of the puck, and Ethan Zhao (#76) of Langley would cross the blue line and fire the puck into the
undefended net, putting his team up two goals with 51 seconds left.
After the handshake line, the players could be seen chatting with each other and discussing the game. As with most NVSHL games, the players are part of a community - most of them have played with each other on various club or travel teams, and like to keep track of what’s
going on in the hockey community.
Although HSL is done with the regular season, there are still a few games scheduled from 7:45 - 10 p.m. on Feb. 7th at Skatequest to wrap-up the season. After that, the playoffs begin - with both Herndon-South Lakes and Langley expected to participate.
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