Mason Sines, a junior at Fairbanks High School, is pictured in the net for the Hilliard Wildcats. The team won the club hockey state championship. (Submitted photo)
A Fairbanks High School athlete can call himself a state champion.
Mason Sines, a junior at FHS, competed this winter for a club hockey team that recently claimed a state title.
He is a member of the Hilliard Wildcats, who recently won the state club championship with a 2-1 victory over the Dayton Stealth.
The Wildcats finished the 2021-22 season with a final record of 38-13-6.
Sines was the No. 1 goalie for the squad.
He posted a 24-10-3 mark in the net with 801 saves.
Sines saved 92% of the attempts made against him and posted eight shutouts.
“It’s a great feeling to be a state champion,” Sines told the Journal-Tribune during a recent interview.
The Wildcats entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed.
They won three games in pool play before advancing to the semifinals.
Hilliard topped Miami 3-1, pummeled Canton-Akron 8-2 and turned back Medina by a 2-0 count.
The Wildcats captured the semifinal contest by a 4-2 count over a squad from Cincinnati.
That pushed the Hilliard team into the state championship contest against top-seeded Dayton.
The Wildcats won that game 2-1 to win the title.
Sines was in the net for the final four tournament games.
He finished with 88 saves (95%) during that span.
“We had a very solid season,” said Sines. “Our defense played very well.
“Our offense was able to get on top of people early and keep up the pressure.”
The recently-completed campaign was Sines’ third with the team.
The Wildcats won the league championship during his freshman season and placed third in the state when he was a sophomore.
Sines began ice skating when he was two or three years old.
He began playing hockey in the four and five-year-old age.
“I watched a lot of Columbus Blue Jackets games on TV with my dad and grandpa,” said Sines. “I just fell in love with the game.”
Sines began his hockey career as a forward before switching to the net.
“I really like playing goalie,” he said. “You’re involved in everything the other team is trying to do and there’s a lot of technique involved in the position.”
It can also be quite a dangerous spot, what with the puck ripping toward the net anywhere from the upper 70s to lower 80s miles per hour.
Sines said that doesn’t concern him too much.
“I really don’t think about it,” he said. “I just trust my reaction time as far as deflecting shots.
“It’s more reaction than thinking,” Sines said. “If you think about it, you’ll flinch.”
Goalies have enough padding under their uniforms to prevent serious injuries.
That doesn’t, however, mean they are completely immune to pain.
“The puck can sometimes get in between the padding,” said Sines. “That doesn’t feel good, but mostly it just leaves some bruises.”
The Fairbanks student said he will play for the Wildcats for his final senior season in 2022-23.
He’s not yet sure what will happen after he graduates from high school.
“I’d like to play in college,” he said. “If not, maybe I’ll play with some type of pre-college or pickup team.”