By Lacy Cano
Staff Writer
The Mira Costa ice hockey team managed to slip under the radar and make its way to the Toyota Sports Center High School Ice Hockey League semifinals.
Led by veteran coach Ralph Barahona and key players Frasier Haber, Conor Ferrera and Nico Wilton, the team claimed fourth place in its league this season. With a solid defensive line and skilled goalies, the team’s record improved throughout the season.
“After a couple of games, everybody starts to know how each other plays and there starts to be a chemistry there,” senior defender Patrick Fuesterer said. “We’ve all known each other for a while and we’ve pretty much all played with each other before.”
This was Barahona’s first season with the hockey team, but he is certainly no stranger to the sport. After having a brief professional ice hockey career of his own, which included playing with the Boston Bruins, Barahona dedicated his life to putting effort into the Junior Los Angeles Kings Hockey Club.
“I’ve been working with the Junior Kings for a while now, coaching kids and trying to improve their skills,” Barahona said. “It’s very rewarding.”
Costa’s hopes of proceeding to the finals ended on June 7 with a 5-2 defeat against South Torrance.
After committing turnovers and making bad decisions early in the game, the team was unable to recover from the 4-0 deficit it faced at the end of the second period.
“We tried to make too many fancy plays instead of shooting the puck and attacking the net,” Barahona said.
Despite a disappointing end to the season, the team was happy with its progress over the year and its semifinal game finish. With seniors leaving for college, next year’s team will feature drastically different personnel, but the players have high hopes for the future.
“We had a bumpy road this season, but it turned out that in the end, we were a lot better than last year and, hopefully, we’ll get even better,” sophomore defender Sage Segal said.
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