The White Falcon - 18.11.1994, Síða 8

MSSQ’s James Cash scores over Kenroy Edwards of the
A. T. Mahan Vikings to help his team to a 47-30 victory
Saturday at the Base Gym. With the win, MSSQ remains
undefeated at 4-0.
Undefeated 85th MSSQ
outshoots Mahan Viking^
Story and photo by
J02(AW) B. Natalie Dias
It was experience triumphing
over youth at the Base Gym
Saturday afternoon when 85th
MSSQ beat the A.T. Mahan
High School Vikings, 47-30.
“It’s a good chance to go
against a younger team with
younger legs,” said MSSQ
Coach Bruce Lane. The aver-
age age on the Mahan team is
15.
The Vikings got off to a bad
start when they were called on
several fouls. “When your
point guard gets called on for
four fouls in the first three min-
utes of the game, the rest of the
team gets afraid to play aggres-
sively,” said Bill Riggs, Vikings
coach.
Though behind at the half
27-13, the Vikings seemed to
overcome their cautiousness in
the second half and kept MSSQ
to 13 points, but it wasn’t
enough.
“They played a good game,”
said Lane. “We’re undefeated
“When your point guard
gets called on for four fouls
in the first three minutes of
the game, the rest of the
team gets afraid to play
aggressively. ”
this season, and I think it’s
because we play well together.”
For the Vikings, the game
will be used as a learning expe-
rience. “We play in both the
Under-30 (Admiral’s Cup) and
Over-30 league for exposure,”
explained Riggs. The higl^
school team is preparing
two tournaments to be held
winter in the United Kingdom
against other high schools.
American makes
Icelandic history
By J03 Charlie Glenn
An American from the NATO base
made Icelandic history Nov. 4 when he
became the first player from an
Icelandic team to score against a for-
eign team.
Stephen Mitchell of the Naval
Computer and Telecommunications
Station here plays for the Reykjavik
team and scored his goal against the Ice
Pirates, a hockey club from New York
City.
The game itself was another first. It
was the first time an Icelandic ice hock-
ey team played a foreign team. The
Pirates played three games in Reykjavik
and Akureyri.
Mitchell says he finds playing for a
foreign team challenging. “It’s a very
different experience,” he explains.
“They play a totally different style of
hockey. It’s much less physical than
American hockey, and the Icelandic
players can actually skate for a longer
period of time. It’s pretty challenging,
but the guys are great.”
He has been playing for Reykjavik
since last December, and brings a lot of
experience to the team because he’s
been playing since he was a child. “My
father put me on skates when I was two-
years old, and I’ve been playing ever
since,” he says.
Ice hockey is a new sport in Iceland.
There are approximately 200 players on
three teams. The Reykjavik team was
the first to play the Ice Pirates on
Friday night in Laugardalur Ice Rink.
Mitchell’s goal was the only point
scored by Reykjavik in their 13-1 drub-
bing, but he says that’s not surprising
for a team with such a limited variety of
practice opportunities. “We really
haven’t practiced as much as a full
team, because we only get to play two
other teams,” Mitchell explains. “At
least we didn’t get shut out.”
The Ice Pirates boast an 11-13-1
record in international competition,
with victories against professional and
amateur teams in countries like
Sweden, Finland, Norway, Italy and the
former U.S.S.R. Couple that with three
league titles in its seven-year existence,
and you have a formidable team.
Mitchell enjoys the opportunity of
playing his sport of choice alongside
host-countiy nationals. Playing against
fellow Americans adds a nice twist.
“The Icelandic players welcomed me to
their team, so I’m playing for them
against Americans - it’s a little stran^J
but I really enjoyed it,” concluJH
Mitchell.
8
The White Falcon