The Celina JV hockey team shut out Allen to snap a four-game regular-season losing streak.
The Bobcats not only demonstrated their offensive capabilities throughout the game, but they also supported goaltender Cameron Smith defensively.
'We've been kind of on a slide, so it was good to get a win and get back in that column,' Assistant Coach Brian Moreno said. 'We just played in that Thanksgiving tournament. … We were playing some tougher competition; some varsity kids played down.'
That challenge helped them grow, Moreno said.
'They were able to kind of take some of those lessons learned and bring them into today,' he said.
Alex Martin, assisted by Austin Schaffer, kicked off the scoring in the first period.
Brenden Vessels was in the right place at the right time to help William 'Bulldog' Martinez with his goal.
'It was a good team play,' Vessels said. 'I hooked it out of the goalie; he got the rebound.'
The two long-time teammates collapsed in celebration after Martinez sunk the puck in the net.
Connor Houston also earned an assist on that goal.
Both nets stayed quiet during the second period, but Celina turned up the heat again in the third period, starting with a shorthanded goal by Schaffer, assisted by Houston.
Schaffer snuck around the back of the goal and popped the puck in past Allen's goaltender.
David Smith, who shot the fourth goal past the Allen goalie, assisted by Braedyn Garza and Houston, was proud of his work in passing and keeping pressure on the opponents in the zone.
As a team, though, he cited penalty minutes as a big concern.
'We need to definitely work on staying out of the box,' he said. 'We don't have a good record with that, so we need to stay focused on that and try to put a little more pressure on the zone,' he said.
Houston was largely pleased with how the game unfolded and was hopeful the win will shift the team's momentum in a positive direction.
'We played probably pretty well; it wasn't our best so far,' Houston said. 'We're excited to go against Prosper.'
Cameron felt he played a strong game, and he was complimentary of his teammates on defense.
'I played pretty good today,' he said. 'But you also have to [give] credit to the defense. They played some pretty good defense today and kept them out of the zone most of the game.'
The Celina goalie was perfect in his 19 save attempts.
Vessels is happy to see the team's progression and growth.
'Last season, we were getting tranched, now we're one of the ones on top,' he said.
Moreno echoed Cameron's compliment to the defense as well as gave one to Cameron and the team's other goalie, Blake Renowden.
'We know the goalie is going to have our back, so that makes it a lot easier to play a little more confident and take a little more risk,' he said.
He gave a nod to the offense as well.
'There were a lot of hardworking goals,' Moreno said. 'That's what you can ask for, right? Just get shots on net and try and get the hardworking, crash-in-front-ofthe- net goals.'
Moreno pointed to position work as an area for the kids to improve.
'We still need to get a little more sound,' he said. 'I think we chased the puck a little bit there.'
Celina will face Prosper (7-2-0) at 5:15 p.m. Sunday in McKinney.
