(Photo by Tim Pitts) caption: BACK TO SPEED: Hun School boys’ hockey player Alex Vukasin chases down the puck in a game earlier this season. Sophomore forward Vukasin, who was sidelined for much of last year due to a leg injury, scored two third period goals against Pennington last Thursday to spark Hun to a 4-2 victory. The Raiders, who have won three in a row to improve to 6-4, head down to Maryland this weekend to play at the Landon School on January 21 and at Calvert Hall the next day.

Hun Boys’ Hockey Finding a Rhythm as Vukasin Gets Back to Full Speed

Bill Alden

After being slowed by a leg injury last year in his first season with the Hun School boys’ hockey team, Alex Vukasin is getting back to speed this winter.

“I had a hip thing and I have been strengthening it a lot,” said sophomore forward Vukasin. “It is finally getting better; I am almost there.”

Last Friday, Vukasin showed his strength offensively, scoring two third period goals as Hun pulled out a 4-2 win over the Pennington School at the Ice Land Skating Center.

With the game knotted at 1-1 headed into the third period, Vukasin and his teammates weren’t looking to do anything fancy.

“The message was to get some pucks into the net,” said Vukasin. “The coaches told us to make sure you play both ways, not just offensively.”

Vukasin took that message to heart as he banged home a goal with 11:40 left and then found the back of the net again some seven minutes later as he scored on a breakaway.

“On my first goal, I was pretty surprised,” recalled Vukasin. “We definitely needed a goal there; I was just thinking get some pucks to the net and I got lucky. On the second one, I was thinking go all the way.”

While Vukasin got the pivotal goals, he knows that the Hun win wasn’t a one-man show.

“We definitely pulled together,” said Vukasin. “We brought some intensity to the game that we had not had all season.”

Hun head coach Francois Bourbeau likes the way Vukasin is pulling things together this season after an injury-plagued freshman season.

“Alex is aggressive and uses his speed,” said Bourbeau, who also got goals from Peter Nawn and Matt Johnson.

“He has good skating abilities and can use it to his advantage. Today, he came up up top with it twice and you can see the results. I was expecting good things from him last year but he was injured a good part of the season. He has improved from last season to this season and we are real happy to have him. Hopefully, he will be there all season at 100 percent.”

In reflecting on the win over Pennington, Bourbeau acknowledged that his team didn’t reach 100 percent intensity until later in the contest.

“We were playing position hockey but we were not moving our feet quickly,” said Bourbeau, whose team was locked in a scoreless tie after the first period.

“I think they were reluctant to be too aggressive and I think after the first period, they got more comfortable. They turned up the intensity but they played a smart intense.”

The Raiders have been getting good intensity from veteran stars Greg Seelagy and Matt Johnson all season long.

“Greg Seelagy has been showing a big improvement,” asserted Bourbeau. “This year he has come out with fire; he has been really aggressive. He takes all the advice I tell him and he applies it. That is showing with the end result. Matt Johnson has been a huge help at defenseman and offensively. I think if I had more players, especially on defense, I would probably let him go more offense.”

With Hun having won all three of its 2011 games to improve to 6-4, Bourbeau believes his team is going on the offensive.

“No one did much over the break, that hurt us a little,” said Bourbeau, whose team heads down to Maryland this weekend to play at the Landon School on January 21 and at Calvert Hall the next day.

“Now we have two weeks back and we are back to where we were before the break. I am happy with things, those wins get the guys more confident. They realize now what they are supposed to do.”

In Vukasin’s view, Hun can do some good things over the rest of the winter. “I feel like as long as we play our game, we can go real far,” said Vukasin. “It’s basically grinding it out, working hard. It’s not a one-man game, it’s a team game.”

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