Stone Bridge High School’s club hockey team enters the second half of the Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League season in a familiar position - undefeated and in first place in the six-team Norris Division.

The Bulldogs are 5-0 and sit atop the Norris by one game over Ashburn rival Broad Run (4-1). Stone Bridge - 2010-2011 NVSHL champions - have outscored its first five opponents by 33 goals, netting 45 goals while allowing 12. 

“The whole team has been a pleasant surprise,” said Stone Bridge coach John Lynch, the lone Bulldogs’ head coach since the program started 12 years ago.

“Stone Bridge has always been a team that scores a lot of goals. But we normally don’t hit. We have a lot of guys that want to hit this year,” Lynch said, crediting senior defensemen Josh Kuzbel and Tucker Ross and Canadian transfer Stephen Trivieri, also a standout running back on the Bulldogs’ football team. “They’ve added some toughness.”

The Bulldogs also feature plenty of depth. Lynch compliments players like sophomore Eric Rindfleisch and seniors Chaz Collins and Tyler Crawford for being “fully aware of their abilities and playing within their capabilities”, along with the forward trio of sophomore Morgan Dice and juniors Trevor Mack and Max Florence for “playing and skating hard”.

Anthony Moffa, described by Lynch as a “very focused player with a really good shot”, is the Bulldogs most prolific goal scorer. The senior leads the team with 10 goals and 13 points on the season.

“Playing hard is the recipe for Stone Bridge,” Lynch said. “We have three or four good offensive lines. A lot of teams only have one or two.”

Martin Trivieri - Stephen’s brother - has started four of five games in goal. Trivieri is 4-0 with a shutout, posting a 2.75 goals against average.

The Bulldogs have five regular-season games remaining before the postseason starts. Included in that stretch are grudge matches against Ashburn foes Briar Woods on Jan. 27 and Broad Run on Feb. 10. Both games should draw large crowds at the Ashburn Ice House.

“They’ve had really good teams,” Lynch said of Briar Woods. “The kids play together on travel teams so there is a building rivalry. We’ve always had a good rivalry with Broad Run and I don’t think that will ever change. But Briar Woods is definitely becoming another big rivalry for us.”

As for the Bulldogs’ goal this season, it remains the same as every other campaign - play for the championship.

Stone Bridge has played in six NVSHL championship games, winning four titles. The Bulldogs also won the Virginia championship in the Maryland Scholastic League in their very first season.

“We want to play in the last game, we want to play in the championship,” Lynch said. “For us, it’s about improving every game and getting a better feel for the team. Just getting into a groove.”

-All photos by Beverly Denny