Mason/Oakton Hockey Team Gains Come-Back Win Over Flint Hill

By FALLS CHURCH TIMES STAFF
January 31, 2011

The George Mason/Oakton ice hockey team overcame a two-goal first-period deficit to gain a 6-2 victory over Flint Hill Saturday night at Ashburn Ice House. 

Although the Mason/Oakton squad outshot Flint Hill 11-9 in the first period, Flint Hill scored twice on breakaways to lead the contest 2-0 at the first intermission. 

But the second period saw a momentum shift which lasted throughout the game, as Mason goalie Eddy Marshall stopped multiple point-blank shots and his teammates began finding the back of the net at the opposite end. 

Oakton sophomore John Zalubski scored midway through the second period to cut Flint Hill’s lead to one, followed by a tying goal by Oakton sophomore Matt Stalzer to end the period. 

George Mason’s skaters dominated the game in the third period, with each gaining scoresheet points for goals or assists.  Early in the period, Mason junior Hans Olson scored his team’s third goal on a shot above the goalie’s shoulder, and one minute later picked up an assist on a pass to Mason freshman Jack Stricker, who buried the puck to make it 4-2.   

The assault continued on the next shift, when Mason freshman Adam Fendley stole the puck at Flint Hill’s blue line and passed to Zalubski in front of the goal, where Zalubski picked up his second goal of the game with Fendley getting the assist.  The score with eight minutes left was 5-2 for Mason/Oakton. 

The final score came on assists from Mason skaters Olson and Connor Rhodes.  Rhodes started the play from the right corner with a pass to Olson in the high slot, who in turned delivered it to Oakton sophomore Chris Peterkin in front of the net.  Peterkin tapped the puck past the Flint Hill goalie to make it 6-2.     

Flint Hill tried desperately to get back in the game late in the third period, peppering Marshall with shots from every angle, but the Mason senior stopped every effort and his defenders efficiently cleared all rebounds.  For the night, Marshall stopped 29 of 31 shots, while his teammates fired 35 shots against Flint Hill.  

The win marked the second victory of the season for Mason/Oakton, which improved to 2-6 and has won two of its last three games. 

The Mason/Oakton squad plays Woodson Saturday February 5 at 9:20pm at Ashburn Ice House, followed by the final game of the season Wednesday February 9 at 4pm against Osbourn Park at the Lumberyard Rink in Haymarket.

TUESDAY 2/1: Free Seminar on Home Inspections

Home Inspections are an important part of the Home Buying process. Come to a Free Seminar at Fall Properties on “Home Inspections – Common problems to look out for” on Tuesday, February 1st from 7-8PM. Realtor Laura Nunley will present the topic, and there will be time for Q&A afterward, so bring your concerns. Call 703-536-7001 to reserve a seat or sign up online at www.fallproperties.com, under the seminar button.

So Be Honest — When Haven’t You Had This Problem?

By STEVEN VALLEY
Falls Church Times Staff

January 30, 2011

You wake-up one sunny summer Saturday and decide that it’s high time you replaced those worn out busted-up garbage cans that have been the scourge of the street on trash day for some time now. So, with a smile on your face and wallet in hand off you go to your favorite home supply store and find two suitable replacement refuse receptacles. You purchase them from the kindly shop keeper in the orange smock, bring them home, and proudly display them on trash day.

YES! You now have the prettiest garbage cans on the block!

However, three months later, you read in your local “online community newspaper” that the city you live in has decided to replace every resident’s trash container with larger, better ones — ahhheerrr oh no?

Don’t you hate when that happens! So now what, what DO you do?

Well, the solution is quite simple actually; if you live in Falls Church you go to our new CommonPlace and post the following notice:

Last month the Falls Church Times brought you the story of our own Peter Davis, who with a bunch of his Harvard buddies started up an Internet solution that would build small town gathering places and trading posts for any city or town that would want them  (Sounds like a movie, doesn’t it? Nyaahhh.) Anyway, at the end of December, Peter met with the Falls Church Times and laid out his plan for just such a place for the City of Falls Church (his home town). We liked it so much that we ran a story on it. And as they say, the rest is history. For the month of January, the CommonPlace story was the second most read story on the site! Second only to that nagging Fairfax … water … thingy… story… that’s been droning on and on and . . . .

On January 3, the Falls Church version of CommonPlace was rolled out with about five members in it. Three weeks later it has a respectable 450 members! Not bad! And the FCT would like to say that we helped make that happen. Personally, as a member of Falls Church CommonPlace I’ve received and read dozens of interesting posts from the neighbors on my block and from around town. I’ve seen various posts from city agencies and the school system, so I believe it’s striking a chord with everyone here in our “li’l city”. To be honest, it does make me feel more connected to my immediate neighbors and to my community.

With that said, I am sure you share my curiosity in how it may be going so far. So with that in mind, Peter recently reached out and sent the following note to me.

“It’s been about a month now [that's considered a life-time in Internet time] since the site went live, so here are some achievements for the Falls Church CommonPlace.com web site:

• We have 450 Falls Church residents in the network, as well as a dozen community organizations and city services plugged into it as well.  They include: Falls Church ARTS, FCCPS, the Lions Club, the Education Foundation, BIE, Rec & Parks, the Library, and VPIS. Plus, the FCT is streaming through.
• Neighbors in Falls Church have already used our ‘Neighborhood Posts’ feature to get: electrician recommendations, volunteers for an FCEF gala, a play date for a child, a renter for a house, babysitters, and a dress for the 4th grade colonial day.
• Community groups have used our “Community Information Feeds” feature to publicize a tax seminar, the Lions Club fruit sale, and the BIE’s Mozart for Meals fundraiser.
• On the day of the snow storm, with all the power outages, 10 residents used CommonPlace to report downed trees, ask when the power was coming back, get recommendations for tree removal, and invite neighbors over to their house to warm up.
• We’ve met with a dozen or so civic groups to explain the platform, including representatives from VPIS, Falls Church ARTS, and the PTA. Plus, we officially explained CommonPlace to the Falls Church City Council (you can view a tape of that meeting here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGq38knVdHA)
• We met with Falls Church Information Coordinator, Barbara Gordon, a few times this past month and she has set up a “Falls Church City government programs and services” feed on the site, which means that the city can now send out announcements and events through CommonPlace. Plus, webmaster John Brett at FCCPS set up a feed for the school system.
• We are looking for Falls Church CommonPlace Neighborhood Captains. A Neighborhood Captain would help moderate their neighborhood board, answer questions about the platform for people in their neighborhood, and encourage people in their neighborhood to join and post. If anyone’s interested, they can email: Pete@CommonPlaceUSA.com.
• If any business or civic organization wants to start a community feed on the site, they can click ‘feeds’ in the top right of the main page and click ‘create a feed.’ This will allow them to send events and announcements to everyone in Falls Church.
• Over the next few weeks — on the platform design end — we are going to be optimizing how users can post information, adding features where users can email in their posts to their neighborhoods or community feeds. We are also going to be adding an ‘Interest/Discussion Groups’ functionality, which will allow users to join “Falls Church Music,” “Falls Church Politics,” “Falls Church Environment”, “Falls Church Parents,” etc. and share information with those in the network of specific interests.
• We’re still building up the network and hopefully we’ll get 1,000 Falls Church users in the next few weeks. The more Falls Church residents in the network, the better a civic information tool CommonPlace will be! So please encourage any Falls Church resident you know to sign up at OurCommonPlace.com to start connecting to and sharing information with your neighbors and Falls Church organizations.

It’s been fun and I know that my team and I are looking forward to bringing all of these enhancements to the city’s version of CommonPlace. Any resident in Falls Church can email me — Pete@CommonPlaceUSA.com or call me (347-453-3135) anytime with any questions, thoughts, concerns or ideas about Falls Church’s CommonPlace.”

Falls Church City has some of the brightest kids around — they work hard, they play hard, they’re motivated, they’re polite, and they are creative. And, if all of the youth of Falls Church City are anything like Peter Davis and spend their spare time developing projects like CommonPlace, then I think we have a very bright future. We’ll be checking back in with Peter to see how it’s going. In the meantime we wish him and his partners nothing but good luck.

As for my garbage cans?

I received a response to my Monday morning post from one of my neighbors this past Friday informing me that the city will allow us to use them for yard waste.  She went on to tell me that if I held on to them I could save myself the cash and not have to buy those brown paper bags.

Wow!  From cryptic offer to useful information in the space of five days without ever having to post a flier, make a phone call, or pay a cent.  I think that’s some pretty compelling proof that the site works and that people are using it.

TUESDAY 2/8: Vegan Lifestyle Author at Clare and Don’s

Come and join us on Tuesday, February 8 from 9:15 p.m. – 11 p.m. at Clare and Don’s Beach Shack, 130 North Washington Street in Falls Church to learn more about the vegan lifestyle.

Northern Virginia-based Compassion for Animals compassion4animals.org is hosting an informal mixer with award-winning vegan cookbook author Colleen Patrick-Goudreau compassionatecooks.com. Colleen will have copies of her latest book, Color Me Vegan, available for buying and getting signed. Color Me Vegan shows you how to put more colors into your diet—naturally-occurring colors, not artificial ones—and is filled with recipes that are a feast for your plate and palate, from nature’s palette.

To RSVP, please go to colormeveganfallschurch2.

Note: Although the event starts at 9:15 p.m., you may want to go to Clare and Don’s earlier to eat dinner (they have quite a few veg items) — clareanddons.com and stay for the event.

TUESDAY 2/8: Lunch & Learn About Zoning in Falls Church [SOLD OUT]

The League of Women Voters advised Friday evening that this event is sold out.

The League of Women Voters of Falls Church will sponsor a forum on “What’s the Latest on Zoning in Falls Church?” on Tuesday February 8, another in its continuing series of “Lunch & Learn” events. The luncheon will feature an update on city zoning developments by John Murphy, past chair of the Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee, and Cindy Mester, acting director of the Planning Department and assistant city manager.

The event will begin at 11:30 a.m. at Pistone’s Italian Inn, 6320 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church. The cost for the luncheon is $20, with advance reservations required by February 4 to vfl@verizon.net. For more information on the event and the Falls Church League of Women Voters, see www.lwvfallschurch.org.

The League of Women Voters advised Friday evening that this event is sold out.

THURSDAY 2/10: ‘DC Sniper’ Defense Attorney Speaks on Death Penalty

Jon Sheldon, the defense attorney for the “DC Sniper”, will speak in the George Mason High School cafeteria on Thursday, February 10, at 3:15 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

Sheldon is president of the Board of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. He will discuss the issues surrounding the death penalty that he has dealt with during his career.

The event is sponsored by the GMHS chapter of Amnesty International. Amnesty International’s position on the death penalty is:

“The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights. It is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state. This cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment is done in the name of justice.

It violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to kill the prisoner.”

FRIDAY 2/11: Military History Forum

Jack Kull will speak on “POW/MIA Accounting:  An Overview.”  No charge. 10 a.m. – noon, Falls Church Community Center, 221 Little Falls Street. 703-248-5020.  The Forum meets every other Friday, same time, same place.

The following lectures have been scheduled for 2011:

Feb. 18   Retired Senior CIA Officer Kent Holmes:  The War In Laos 1962 to 1975 (rescheduled from January 28)

Feb. 25  Col. Charles McGee (USAF ret.):  Tuskegee Airmen

Mar. 11  Will Hutchison: Balaclava:  So Where Was The Damned Infantry?

Mar. 25  Harry Yeide:  The Tank Killers

Apr. 8  Field Trip to Manassas Museum.  Jeff Toalson:  Boots and Kisses

Apr.  22  George Kralovek:  April 1865, The Month That Saved America

May 6     TBA

May 20  TBA

SATURDAY 2/12: Valentines Auction & Gala

You’re invited to the annual Valentines Auction & Gala to benefit the Falls Church Winter Homeless Shelter

Where: National Rural Electric Cooperative Bldg 4301 Wilson Blvd., Arlington 22203 (Free parking underneath on Taylor)

When: Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011, 8 – 11pm Tickets: $25 advance*(by Feb 5), $35 door includes Food, Live music, etc.

For more information, to donate, or volunteer, please contact:

Stacy Hennessey at: stacyhennessey@gmail.com
or phone at: 703.395.4868,

Hannah Jordan at: HJordan3@cox.net.

Online, go to: http://fallschurchwintershelterfundraiser.eventbrite.com)

or by mail:

Falls Church Winter Shelter
CO; Jody Kane,
1100 N. Tuckahoe St.,
Falls CHurch VA 22046

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