“YEAAAAH!” The crowd’s cheers crescendo as Taizo Cesari (’26) performs a forehand backhand move, slipping the puck past the Oakton goaltender.
While most students head home after school to enjoy the warmth of their homes, the hockey team plays in freezing conditions all season.
Loyal fans attend nearly every game, spending their Friday nights in the ice rink. However, it receives less attention
from students. Regardless of the attendance, the team puts in the work at the rink, leading them to a strong start this winter.
The team opened the season with three strong wins, beating Oakton 5-2, demolishing Gainesville 11-1 and defeating South Lakes 4-3. Their early success points to a strong season ahead, as well as increased recognition for the program.
Players say that the progress they’ve made this season comes from preparation, teamwork and the talent on the ice; according to forward Luke Sangkharat (’27), the team’s current winning streak isn’t a surprise.
“I think that the combination of a strong roster as well as good coaching has led us to our 3-0 start,” Sangkharat said. “With the players we have this year, I believe that we could make a deep playoff run.”
But for Sangkharat, the most rewarding part of the sport has nothing to do with statistics.
“The thing I enjoy the most about being on the hockey team is probably being able to play for my school,” Sangkharat said. “I think that being able to play for the Warhawks as well as in front of crowds of my classmates and peers is really special.”
Cesari shares the sentiment.
“I love playing with my school friends and having my other school friends come and support us at our games,” Cesari said.
Cesari also credited not only the team’s members and supporters, but their coach and mentor for their early success.
“I think something that has helped us start the season strong is our Coach, Steve Diamond, who has put in a lot of effort to prepare us for our games and making sure we’re focused during practices and games,” Cesari said.
In hockey, as much as any sport, the coach plays an important role in ensuring each player contributes to the team’s success and develops into better players. Diamond believes the success for the team starts before the players even get to the rink, and he emphasizes the little details for pregame preparation. He expects each of his players to be in the locker room an hour and ten minutes before the game, and for them to be wearing red polos and khaki pants.
“If you want to be a state championship team, well then you better show up to the rink on time, you better show up to the rink in full dress code, so everyone is looking the same and ready to go to war for each other,” Diamond said.
Slightly superstitious, he strongly encourages traditions in preparation for each game. He has his own rituals to be an effective coach. For instance, he varies his shoe choices based on the team’s performance.
Apart from preparation, he believes that another key to the success of the program is to build a positive and supportive team culture. Diamond values player bonding, self leadership and team unity as important components for the success of the team.
“When it comes to the strategies to build a positive and supportive team culture, I might do a couple of things. One of the things we’ve done is we added an annual spikeball tournament, and we try to put seniors with freshmen and juniors with juniors and try to mix the group whether you are a Varsity or JV player so it’s a family atmosphere…Secondly I like to have my players vote for captains…my job as a coach is to put people in the right spots and create a strategy for our team to win. I’m not the one actually playing, and you need [a] buy in from every single player in your lineup that they want to accomplish the same goal that we set forth in the beginning of the season, and you do that by giving players a voice within their team.” Diamond said.
As they continue to work hard throughout the season, school spirit is a big contributor through motivation in their performance. Cheer for the hockey team on Friday nights at Skate Quest.
