Senior ice hockey captains Matt Senker and Curtis Milkman have played hockey together since eighth grade, but in their final season together, they have come full circle. They have accomplished the ultimate goal: wining a state championship.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better way to go out,” Milkman said. “I’m glad I now do not have to look back to my high school hockey years and say ‘What for?”
Milkman, who moved from Rochester, NY in the seventh grade, started playing hockey when he was 8 years old.
“Playing hockey wasn’t really a choice; it was just something all the kids did,” Milkman said. “Hockey is the fastest game in the world and it’s intense, and the only way to win is by playing like a team.”
At a young age, Senker and his father attended Washington Capitals games where he fell in love with hockey. Senker started playing when he was 6 years old as it seemed almost natural for him because both his sister, 2008 alumna Rachel Senker, and his father both have played the sport.
Both Senker and Milkman played hockey for the same Montgomery Blue Devils club team, and when it came time to try out for the Bulldogs, head coach Ray McKenzie saw potential in both the players.
“All I knew from the outset was that Matt and Curtis were good hockey players who could develop into great high school players,” McKenzie said.
From their many years of experience on the ice between the Bulldogs and their club team, Senker and Milkman have grown into the great high school players that Mckenzie had expected to lead the team by example and set the standards high for the team’s underclassmen.
“Senker is a quiet leader,” senior Matt Spivak said. “He definitely is the leader of the defensive side and always makes the smart and easy play, never trying to do anything too special. Curtis is definitely our vocal leader always getting everyone pumped up before the game and helping us keep the intensity during it too.”
Although both boys had the same goals of winning a state championship and the characteristics of strong leaders and players, Senker and Milkman are different in many aspects from one another.
“Matt is quiet, reserved, [and] doesn’t say a whole lot,” McKenzie said. “Curtis is the opposite, always cracking jokes, chatting away about anything and everything he thinks. He does a good job on keeping everyone loose. They complement each other very well in that regard.”
This season was the first for both Senker and Milkman to have the team go past the first round of the playoffs.
“This whole season was the best memory,” Senker said. “Beating Wootton was one of the best things and it was our first playoff win against Wootton.”
According to McKenzie, without the help of Senker and Milkman, the Bulldogs would not have won the championship this year.
Senker, who has been captain for two consecutive seasons, finished the regular season with seven goals and 11 assists. During the postseason, he scored a goal in every one of the playoff games, to score a total of five goals.
Senker has remained a consistently, well-rounded defenseman, and even won the Robert D. Roseman Player’s Player award last season. This season he earned honorable mention for the All-Gazette ice hockey team.
According to Senker, he felt great and was surprised that he won the award because it is typically awarded to a senior on the team. The award is voted by the team for a teammate who they believe has the most character on and off the ice.
Milkman was the second highest scorer during the regular season with 15 goals and 13 assists. During the playoffs, Milkman had four assists.
Next year, Senker will be attending University of Maryland, College Park where he hopes to play club hockey. Milkman is still uncertain about where he will study, but also hopes to continue playing hockey.
“It is a thrill for me to have watched them grow from kids into men,” McKenzie said. “To see them mature along the way, and to have it all end with a state championship for them as seniors, I could not be happier for them. They put the hard work in and deserve the success they achieved.”
