Heading into the last three games before winter break, the Patriots were not looking their best, but knew they had winnable games approaching that could get their momentum going. The team played the Blair Devils twice: one game on Dec. 2 and the other on Dec.16, as well as the BCC (Bethesda Chevy Chase) Barons.

The first Blair game was at Cabin John Ice rink and the team was excited. The Patriots started the game off hot with Junior Grady Sellmen scoring the first goal off of an assist by Senior Conor Harris in the first three minutes of the game. However, the team got cocky, with Blair tying up the game a minute later. The two teams went scoreless for a little bit but Wootton managed to score their second goal of the game by Sophomore Nathan Tai.

The second period began and both teams were competitive with lots of hits and penalties. It was a scrappy game from here, and kept going back and forth. Blair tied the game up two goals each, but yet again Wootton would respond back with a goal by Sophomore Sam Hosier, putting the Patriots up one. Just as the Patriots thought they would get out of the period leading, Blair scored to tie the game with three goals each by the end of the second period. “The goal before the third period was really disappointing because we really wanted to enter the end of the game winning,” junior Cole Weber said.

The Patriots looked tired in the beginning of the third period as Blair scored their fourth goal of the game, putting the Devils up by one with their first lead of the game. After eight minutes of no goals on either side, Sellmen put in his second goal to tie the game back up. Both teams started to get tired as the game was ending and it looked like this game was going to end in a tie as there was one minute left. All of a sudden, the Patriots stole the puck and came down the ice fast and Harris put in the final goal of the game, making the final score 5-4 Patriots. “No one on the team wanted to lose this game and seeing us down in the last few minutes we knew we had to pull in together,” freshmen Owen Goozh said.

After a disappointing 8-2 loss against BCC, the Patriots were ready to play the Devils again. Coming off an intense win last time these teams played, it was clear they did not like each other. Referees had to break up players multiple times but this rough play did not faze the Patriots as they beat Blair in a 6-2 game. It was clear the team came to play after scoring three unanswered goals in the first period.”I think coming out fast that game really helped us win because after those goals we had all the momentum,” senior William Rusiecki said.