By Camille Juton
Staff Writer
The whoosh of the blades gliding through the ice, the buzzer when it rings after a goal is scored; from the end of March to the end of June, the Mira Costa ice hockey team competes against local South Bay teams.
“I joined hockey because my brother played hockey,” player Doc Gentzler said.”My travel season for club ice hockey is not year round so I also wanted to keep my skills up by joining the team.”
All practices for the team are at the El Segundo Toyota Center. The team practices about once a week, which includes skating drills, puck handling and scrimmaging.
“This could be a very promising season for us,” Gentzler said. “We’ve only had several practices so far this year but we are already showing much more improvement from last year. We’re expecting a championship this year and I can’t wait to be a part of it.”
All games will take place at the Toyota Center. Although not every high school in the South Bay has an ice hockey team, Costa primarily has games against local schools.
“All of the schools we play are in the South Bay including teams from Palos Verdes High School, El Segundo High, Loyola, and South Torrance,” Vitta said.
The varsity team is led by senior forward Doc Gentzler, senior forwardJake Vitta and senior defender Dylan Fair who is a defender.
“I joined the team because most of us play on our club teams throughout the school year so its a cool experience to be able to compete with other classmates,” Vitta said.
Mira Costa has not won a championship in five seasons, and last year lost in the semi finals, but expects to bring one home this year.
“We’re going to play really well this season because of all the talent we have on our team this year,” Gentzler said. ” We have a lot of old and young talent, we’re really fast and we have a lot of goal scorers. ”
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