Two weeks in but we already are starting to solidify our early season impressions of the four varsity teams here in Summit City. Wednesday’s results were as expected again but how close the two games were bodes well for the rest of the season and the development race heats up.
Homestead 4, Vipers 3
Looking to get on the right track following last week’s loss, the Vipers came out of the gate hot and dominated the play for the majority of the first period but especially the first few minutes. Alex Dougherty and the Homestead defense stood tall though and kept the donuts on the scoreboard. After biding their time Homestead was able to jump on the attack and it was Cameron Hurley that delivered the opening goal. From behind his own net, Hurley skated all the way up the ice with only one Viper ever getting in his way, fired a wrist shot that ricocheted off the end-wall and bounced right back to him. It was a very odd bounce that had Vipers goalie Kam Clark looking the wrong way leading to an easy tap-in for Hurley. The Vipers got right back on the attack though, until their efforts were hampered by a roughing penalty to Dylan Parks at 11:14 of the period. Homestead would convert on the ensuing power play with a goal from Daniel Martinsky. Martinsky collected the puck in the neutral zone and made his way around three Vipers players before sending a shot from the right circle past Clark for the 2-0 lead. The Vipers were finally able to make good on all their chances a little less than two minutes later when Jackson Bertels was able to get them on the board with a power play goal of his own. Bertels carried the puck across the blue line and let a shot fly from the right wall, hesitated for a moment, then followed up his shot when the juicy rebound popped out to an open area and he put it over Dougherty’s shoulder for the goal with just 41 seconds left in the first period. That brought the first period to a conclusion with the Vipers trailing despite outshooting the Spartans 15-7.
Another unfortunate situation befell the Vipers early in the second period when back to back penalties on Mason Johnson and Logan Ormsby served up a lengthy 5-on-3 power play for Homestead. After getting the initial clear down the ice, Andrew Litwinko carried the puck back up for Homestead before firing a shot wide. The puck caromed around the wall to Hurley at the left point who patiently walked to the top of the slot and put a wrist shot past Clark a little over 30 seconds into the two-man advantage. That marked the Spartans second power play goal of the game on as many tries but they couldn’t convert on the remainder the time Ormsby sat in the box. They were however able to find another power play goal later in the period when they were gifted a power play by Simon Watson taking a massive hack at Litwinko, probably the easiest penalty call the official has had in quite some time. The Vipers’ penalty kill was successful for most of the two minutes but eventually got burned by another Martinsky power play goal. This period was much more favorable overall to Homestead as well. Through the middle frame they basically flipped the script from the first period and controlled the play with a commanding shot differential like the Vipers carried in the first.
Now with a strong three goal cushion, the Spartans were able to hold the Vipers at bay in the third period until a late charge put the game in doubt. With 1:12 to play Watson fired a shot from the left point that was directed by Bertels past Dougherty to give the Vipers some life. Then on the ensuing faceoff Martinsky was sent off the ice for a high-sticking penalty to further open the door for the comeback. The Vipers used their timeout to get organized ahead of the power play and also pulled Clark to make it a 6-on-4 advantage. Despite the Vipers controlling the puck for nearly all of the first 42 seconds of the power play they were yet to get a shot off, but when they did it counted. Bertels was under pressure but found a release to Nick Vanryn behind him who had gotten lost in coverage by Homestead. Vanryn took a couple steps then unleashed a shot to the back of the net, getting the deficit down to one with 30 seconds still to work with. The Spartans would soon after use a timeout of their own to get the game plan together. After icing it coming out of the timeout, the play eventually came to Martinsky in the left corner and he pinned the puck to the wall. With the Vipers unable to dislodge it the clock ran out and Homestead escaped with the 4-3 win.
Carroll 3, Leo 1
The main event of the night featured a rematch of last year’s Memorial Cup Final and both of the local teams that made deep runs in state last year. Leo got out to a hot start like they did in that championship game in February and the Vipers did in the 7:00 game. Carroll was able to weather the early storm and keep the game tied at 0, as were the Lions when Carroll got it going later in the period. By the time the first buzzer sounded Carroll had gotten the gears going enough to have the shot advantage in a busy first period with 28 shots between the two teams. After 15 minutes the only entry on the scoresheet was a roughing penalty to Jonah Haines at 13:52. It didn’t take long in to the second period for things to get going though. The physicality coming from Austin Amick got the best of Dylan Braun who took a roughing penalty in venting some of his frustrations. Braun’s teammates were able to kill the penalty off and then fresh out of the box he showed off the talent we all know he has in almost single-handedly generating a scoring chance. After shedding a number of Leo defenders, Braun slid a pass down low to Finn Cupp and then the puck got knocked away to a spot that Braun launched a shot from. Drew Baumert was able to recover for a desperation save but the rebound went right back to Cupp who buried it into an open net. Leo would answer back with a goal of their own shortly after. The Lions were able to win a puck battle down low and Alex Hendricks was sent a pass to Caden Austin. Austin redirected the puck on net and Luke Vanantwerp made the save but Hendricks found his way to the rebound and buried it to tie the game not even three minutes after the Chargers took the lead.
More penalties to Carroll late in the second afforded Leo a great chance to take the lead at a critical point in the hockey game. The first of the two penalties was a kneeing penalty to Braun, his second trip to the box in the game. 1:33 later Davis Cline was booked for a high stick, giving Leo a 5-on-3 albeit for only 27 seconds. Perhaps the best opportunity in this phase of the game didn’t even go to Leo, but instead to Braun who had a breakaway shorthanded only to be denied by Baumert. Carroll would finish off the penalty kill in the opening 43 seconds of the third period, setting up a tremendous push to the end for both teams looking to stake their claim as the top team in Fort Wayne. The key moment in the game proved to be a tripping penalty to Colten Calhoun just under halfway through the period when he got his stick between the legs of Braun while trying to knock the puck away. Carroll was able to capitalize on the man advantage off a rebound that Colsen White was able to bury after Adlee Scheerer was able to redirect Cline’s shot from the right point. The goal came with 7:23 on the clock leaving plenty of time for Leo to chase down an equalizer.
Try as they might though, that tying goal never materialized and a late, but necessary, penalty from Amick didn’t help matters with 3:32 to play. Cupp had made a stretch pass to spring Braun for a breakaway with Amick hot on his tail. When Baumert came out to challenge the chance he fell backwards, meaning it would have almost certainly been a goal had Amick not grabbed hold of Braun. The power play allowed Carroll to run the clock down to 1:32 without much trouble After the Chargers iced the puck Leo used their timeout to get a rest and pull the goalie for the final 1:09 of regulation. Carroll hammered the puck down the ice a few times which relieved some pressure but at the same didn’t kill much time and brought the faceoff back down to their end. In the end it didn’t matter though. On the ensuing faceoff from one of the icings, the puck found its way to Sam Krauhs who sent it all the way down the ice on target for the empty net goal, sealing the 3-1 Carroll win. Despite the loss, it was another stellar game for Baumert who made 47 saves on 49 shots against him. On the other side Vanantwerp stopped 22 of 23 shots.
