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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us December 3, 2004 Ice hockey team back for more By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings The inaugural season for Ashland High's coed ice hockey club team could not have been better. Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings First-time goalie David Jacobson-Fried works through drills during a Grizzly practice on Thursday. Facing off against other first-year programs from throughout southern Oregon, the Grizzlies skated their way to a perfect 11-0 record. Most of the wins were lopsided, as Ashland clearly and quickly established itself as the team to beat in the newly formed Southern Oregon High School Hockey League. The Grizzlies' quest to retain that league title begins at 5 p.m. Saturday night, when Ashland is set to face off against Crater at the RRRink in Medford. Grizzly head coach Michael Mahlstadt likes his team's chances. "I think we are going to play extremely smart hockey and use our team to be really creative," he said. "We're not looking for one or two people to carry the whole team, but to be a strong team." Even better? The Grizzlies could be even more dominant than last year. The team that roughed up the rest of the league a season ago returns virtually intact, with a few additions to boot. The 16-player roster includes some of the best athletes - male and female - at Ashland High. Senior defenseman Cody Schoonover may be the cream of the crop. Mahlstadt said Schoonover, the team captain, could set a scoring record this season. Other Grizzly impact players are senior Nevin Freeman, sophomore Tiffany Schoonover, freshman Stephan McLaughlin and senior goalie David Jacobson-Fried. Mahlstadt hopes to take advantage of his talented roster by implementing a new style of offense, one that utilizes the entire playing surface. "We're going to try to attack from our blue line this year, try to get our defensemen shooting a lot at the net and causing a lot of chaos," he said. Trying it out While Ashland will likely have an edge in experience over every opponent it faces this season, the Grizzlies will also roll out a small contingent of players who are fairly new to the sport. According to Mahlstadt, juniors Rissa Barton, Robin Dimitre, Robby Bruce and Alex Lawniczzak all will be trying out organized hockey for the first time. To prepare for the intensity of what has been called the fastest game on Earth, the Grizzlies have been working on the basics. Master those, Mahlstadt says, and everything else will fall into place. "We do a lot of fundamental stuff so their skating becomes second nature," he said. "Their focus is on the puck and on the play, so my job is just to help them become excellent hockey players." Ashland's 10-game regular season schedule wraps up March 5 against Crater. The league playoffs are the following weekend. The Grizzlies play most Saturdays against the likes of Crater, North Medford, South Medford and Klamath Falls. Most of the games are scheduled to be played at the RRRink, but a few will be played in Klamath Falls. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Slippers Isotoner Slippers Dsw Shoes Ceramic Piggy Banks Fanny Mae Eloans Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weight Loss Programs Citibank Student Loans Acs Loan Matchmaking & Dating Scripts Adventure Travel Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems student loan consolidation helzberg diamonds Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams