No average Bear

Blake girls' hockey coach Brano Stankovsky and the Bears began the season with the goal of duplicating last year's Class 1A championship. They just thought they would have to go about it in a different way.

Gone from that 26-4 team is the since-graduated Katharine Chute, the owner of 41 goals and the designations of Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year and Ms. Hockey in Minnesota. So, the Bears reasoned, if they tightened things up defensively and took advantage of their chances ...

Then they played their first game.

Junior winger Sally Komarek scored five goals in a 7-1 victory over Silver Bay, and the Bears began to think that maybe offense wasn't going to be a problem.

It hasn't been. With Komarek leading the way with 27 goals, the Bears have averaged 4.5 goals per game. They take a 16-0-3 record into tonight's game with Visitation/SPA United.

Komarek played on Blake's top line last season alongside Katharine and Margaret Chute, scoring 20 goals. She has proved this season to be the consistent scorer Stankovsky was hoping would emerge. Komarek has scored at least one goal in 15 of the Bears' 19 games.

"She has great hands," Stankovsky said. "This past summer, she really worked on her skating stride and her lower-body strength. In past years she would create some separation, but a lot of times she would get caught. This year she's getting away from people, and they're not catching her."

"I tried to work on all aspects of my game over the summer," she said. "I just hope everything has improved a little bit and made me more of a complete player."

Komarek used the word "gritty" to describe her style of play. Her goals have come from all over the offensive zone, she said, underscoring her willingness to do whatever it takes to put the puck in the net.

"She draws a lot of attention," Stankovsky said, "and that opens up the ice for her linemates, Margaret Chute and Alyssa Veil. I like that you can't just shut one person down. It fits in with the whole team concept."

Komarek has played on varsity since eighth grade. She believed her game took a big step forward in seventh grade, enabling her to receive the invitation to try out for varsity.

"I wasn't expecting to make it at all," Komarek said. "I was young and very nervous, but the team was great. It welcomed me with open arms."

"I felt Sally had the possibility of developing into a Division I-caliber player," Stankovsky said, "but she's jumped to the lead in that area. She's created a buzz."

There's a buzz about Blake again this season, due in large part to Komarek's emergence as a big-time goal scorer.