About Winston Churchill High School Ice Hockey

The Winston Churchill High School Hockey Club, Inc., established in September 1994, provides students at Winston Churchill High School (WCHS) the opportunity to enjoy the challenges, camaraderie, thrill and excitement of playing competitive ice hockey against other area high school teams.

The most successful varsity program in the Maryland Student Hockey League (MSHL,) the Winston Churchill Bulldogs are 10 time MSHL Champions, winning titles in 2006, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, advancing to the state championship game in 2001, 2005, 2022 and 2023, and winning the Montgomery Hockey Conference Championship in 2024.

The Bulldogs are the only public school program with three Washington Post All Met Players of the Year 

• • • Matt Weber in 2001

    • Phil Satin in 2016

    • Jack Taylor in 2018

The WCHS Hockey Club, Inc. is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization.  It receives no funding or staff assistance from the Montgomery County Public School system (MCPS) or the Winston Churchill High School. The Club is funded primarily through player dues which vary in cost from year-to-year and parents MUST help out as a team manager, hosting team dinners, clock/scoresheet/penalty box person or in a variety of other ways.  Each year dues are set based on estimated expenses for the season (such as league fees, ice time, referees, game security, senior night, scheduling and bookkeeping, year-end banquet offset, etc.)  Players provide their own hockey equipment, USA Hockey membership, and a one-time purchase of a uniform (home/away jersey, practice jersey, pant shell and socks.) Jersey numbers stay the same year-to-year so uniforms only need to be purchased once for a player's high school career.

Quick Facts

Nickname: Bulldogs

Location: Potomac, MD
Founded: 1994
Home Arenas: Rockville and Cabin John Ice Arenas
Club contact:  wchs_hockey@outlook.com

Game Information

Varsity generally plays 11 conference games, and up to 5 non-conference games, plus playoffs.  Games are usually on Friday nights at the Rockville Ice Arena or the Cabin John ice rink.  There is no charge for games, but attendance is capped due to league and fire code regulations.  Please contact one of the Team Managers for more information.

JV generally plays 7 regular season conference games, and up to 4 non-conference games, plus playoffs.  Games are generally weekday afternoons or evenings at the Rockville Ice Arena or the Cabin John ice rink.

Both Varsity and JV may play additional non-conference games vs. both public and independent schools.  This season games are planned with The Bullis School, Georgetown Prep., Oakdale HS (Frederick,) South River HS (Edgewater, MD,) and St. Albans depending on availability of ice time and schedules.

Schedules and results:

• Varsity schedule

• Varsity Conference Standings

• JV Schedule

• JV Conference Standings

Practices

Generally held on Monday/Wednesday 3:00pm-4:00pm and Tuesday/Thursday 5:30am-6:30am at Cabin John Ice Rink. Times and days subject to change.

Coaching staff

• Club & Varsity Head Coach:  Stephen London

• Varsity Assistant Coach:  Adon Deguzeman

• Varsity Assistant Coach:  David Finder

• Varsity Assistant Coach: Ryosei Okayama

• Video Coach:  Rob Butler

• JV Head Coach: Omid Manoochehri 

• JV Coach:  Mike Nelson

• JV Coach:  Shane Miller

• JV Coach:  Ryosei Okayama

• JV Assistant Coach: James Doffermyer

• Club Goalie Coach and Trainer:  Shane Miller

• Club Academic Advisors:  Stephen London and James Doffermyer

• Spring League Head Coach:  Mike Nelson

• Spring League Head Coach Upper Team:  Menan Saydam

• Spring League Head Coach Lower Team:  Chi Pham

• Spring League Coach: Ryosei Okayama

• Spring League Team Managers Upper Team:  Paul Klewans and Rika Okayama

• Spring League Team Managers Lower Team: Steve Gordan and Jennifer Zeng

Team Managers

• Varsity: Violetta Bazyluk, vbazyluk@yahoo.com, and Marie O'Connor,  oconnorfam@gmail.com  

• JV:  Steve Gordon, gordonsr@gmail.com, and Jennifer Zeng, scutws@hotmail.com  

Social Media Manager

• Lucy Watkins @churchilljvhockey

Club Director

Mike Nelson, mikenelson-wchshockey@outlook.com

Club Board of Directors

• President: Nellie Abdallah - nellielaw@yahoo.com 

• Club director: Mike Nelson - MikeNelson-WCHSHockey@outlook.com 

• Director & Secretary: Feyuan Wen - fayuanwen2018@gmail.com 

• Director & Treasurer:  Jason Gerstein - jason@lgacapital.com 

• Director & Varsity Team Manager: Violetta Bazyluk - vbazyluk@yahoo.com

• Director & Team Manager: Marie O'Connor- oconnorfam@gmail.com  

Club Priorities & Traditions

While hockey is why we exist, our priorities for our players are, in this order:

1) Family

2) Academics

3) Hockey

Our coaches emphasize these priorities and will work with players to ensure family responsibilities and academics always come before hockey.  Traditionally, most players achieve and maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher.  Freshman benefit from the advice and mentoring of the more senior players, and the senior players get the enjoyment of passing on their experience and wisdom to their protégés.

A long-running tradition of the Club is that of promoting team dinners on a regular basis throughout the season, hosted by one or more families.  The dinners are just for the players, the purpose of which is to allow them to get to know each other as whole persons, not just hockey team mates.  This builds not only a strong team, but strong friendships and a solid support system as they face the challenges involved with being a high school student.

League affiliation links

• Montgomery Hockey Conference - Varsity division 

• Montgomery Hockey Conference - JV division 

• Maryland Student Hockey League (MSHL)

• MSHL Game Day Procedures for Scorekeeping

• MSHL Player Suspension List  

• Potomac Valley Amateur Hockey Association (PVAHA)

• USA Hockey/PVAHA Concussion information

• USA Hockey/PVAHA: Concussion Return-to-Play form

• USA Hockey Parent Resources

Maryland Student Hockey League History (article written in 2019) 

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