By Matthew Reider, Staff Writer
With winter on the horizon, ice hockey teams representing area high schools are competing on ice sheets across northern Virginia each Friday night. Local public school systems do not recognize ice hockey as an official sport, but there are non-affiliated middle school, junior varsity, and varsity programs every season. One such team is the Herndon-South Lakes (HSL) varsity team, a combined team of rival schools, created as a provisional team. This year, HSL is a member of the Adams Division of the Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League, a division that also includes teams representing Madison, Oakton, Langley and Chantilly/McLean. The local HSL team has had some strong seasons in recent years, and is looking forward to the upcoming season with a win over Madison on Nov. 1.
The division exists due to the vision and dedication of parents, coaches, and volunteers that have run the Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League [NVSHL] since 2001. Before that, local teams had to cross the river and participate in Maryland’s school-based league. Jeff Nygaard helped set up the NVSHL as a separate entity and participated as a board member for many years. According to its website, the NVSHL exists to “provide opportunity for northern Virginia high school students to participate in the sport of ice hockey while representing their respective schools.”
The website is sponsored by the NHL’s Washington Capitals, who provide hosting and victory medals for the season champions each winter–and have a trophy cabinet at their Medstar Iceplex practice facility honoring the league. Student-athletes with a strong academic performance are recognized with annual NVSHL All Academic Honors, and each year players are nominated and selected as All-League performers for their respective positions.
When it began, the NVSHL’s goal was to have a hockey team for each area high school. In 2001, there were two 12-team divisions of varsity teams, and the middle school program was added in 2012. As the number of high schools continued to grow, the number of players available for each team became limited. The league has accommodated these issues by allowing two schools to combine to field a full roster. One such team is the Herndon-South Lakes (HSL) team, bringing together rival schools to create a provisional team. The local HSL team has had some strong seasons in recent years, and is looking forward to the upcoming season.
This winter, the league will have 13 single-school teams and eight provisional teams. The teams are broken into four divisions of five or six teams who play each other from November to January, with playoffs finishing up the season mid-February. All want to add their school’s name to the “Capital Cup” trophy, which was on display at the annual meeting in late September.
Gary Pouliot, the league’s executive director, has been involved since day one. “I’ve been coaching at Stonebridge since 2021, and a lot has changed, but it is still important to the players,” he said. “It might not be the highest level of hockey competition, but it means a lot to the student-athletes to represent their school.”
Games are on Friday nights at local rinks and it is a social event for students to come out and support their team. Check out the graphic below as well as this website at https://www.capitalscup.com/nvshl for schedules and standings.
Comentarios