The John Adams Hockey team closed out the 2023 portion of their schedule with 10 games in December, all but one of which was at the Ice Box in South Bend. The Eagles have begun to find their stride this season, competing closely with the strongest teams in the league and state. They played two of these games against cross-town rivals St. Joe and Riley. On Dec. 1, the Eagles took on Riley losing in a shootout 4-3. The Eagles got on the board first with a goal from senior David Hornback. They then retook the lead with a goal from sophomore Finn Mulvehill. After two goals by Riley, the Eagles were down one going into the final minutes of the game before sophomore Hunter Ricks tied the score at three on a power play goal assisted by senior Gavin Taylor (New Prairie HS). After a scoreless overtime period, the game moved to a shootout where the Eagles would fall. Despite the loss, the Eagles came back energized the next night, ready to take on St. Joe. The Adams icers again got off to a hot start getting two first period goals, one from junior Brody Damrill and one from senior captain Tommy Sullivan (South Central HS), to put the Eagles up 2-0 early. In the second St. Joe attempted to crawl back into the game but the Eagles came back harder with Hornback scoring a key shorthanded goal to put the Eagles back up two goals, 3-1. The Eagles slammed the door shut on any hopes of a comeback with a third period power play goal and Sullivan’s second of the night. After a tough shootout loss the night before, the Eagles came back dominant in this win over St. Joe. 

In the South Bend Crossover Tournament Dec. 8-10, the Eagles went 3-1 with decisive wins over Homestead, Culver B and Lake Central. Freshman Josh Rhee scored his first goal in the Eagles 6-1 win against Culver. Freshman Tristin Hinegardner picked up his first varsity win in net as the Eagles went on to beat Lake Central 9-3. The Eagles also picked up a 4-0 win against Homestead, with junior goalie Ryan Brown earning a shutout and notching 18 saves. 

This past weekend the Eagles had another stacked schedule, playing three games against highly ranked teams. They continued to improve their record with a big win over Lake Shore-Saint Joe (Michigan). Led by Sullivan, who scored a hat trick, the Eagles also got a goal from Damrill to end regulation tied at four with the Warriors. Damrill scored again in the shootout and sophomore Ben Nevala scored the game winning shootout goal to give the Eagles the 5-4 W. Saturday night the Eagles took on the Southwest Michigan Blades, one of the top ranked teams that the Eagles play all year. The Eagles started out strong holding onto a 2-1 lead in the third period, thanks to goals from Sullivan and Nevala, but they could not hold that lead. Despite a strong performance from Brown, who had 30 saves, the team lost a close one to the Blades, 3-2. In both games, the Eagles were without key players, including seniors David Hornback, Gavyn Klopenstine and sophomore Tommy Hornback. In addition, the Eagles had two players out with injuries, senior Stephen Stuart and junior Bly Johnson. All things considered, the Eagles played strong in their first two games of the weekend with underclassmen stepping up to fill in for the key missing players. Freshman Jaydon Eigerski, made his presence known while earning more ice time, almost picking up his first goal off a rebound, but the referee blew a quick whistle to take it away. To close out 2023, Adams took on Munster, where they faced a tough challenge. Despite another great performance from Brown, some costly (and questionable) penalties and unlucky bounces led Munster to a 3-0 win. 

The Eagles now look ahead to 2024, where they will resume play on Jan 6 at 8:45pm against Valpo, and then Jan. 7 against St. Joe at 5 p.m. Both contests will be at the Ice Box. Prior to the game against St. Joe, the team will honor the six seniors that have been vital to the continued and growing success of Adams Hockey this year: captain Tommy Sullivan (South Central HS), captain David Hornback, assistant captain Saul Zabukovic, assistant captain Gavin Taylor (New Prairie HS), Stephen Stuart (home school) and Gavyn Klopenstine.