Second period lapse burns out Comets’ chances

CHAGRIN FALLS » Amherst coach Steve Morris is realistic enough to know a White North squad, like his, will have an uphill battle as it is against an upper-division foe, in this case Kenston from the Red North.

On Dec. 22 at The Pond, though, the way the second period materialized, a Christmas miracle would be required to overcome that additional bit of disparity.

The White North-leading Comets, coming in at 10-1-0 and winners of four straight, hung well through the opening period but had a nightmarish second as the Bombers scored four goals to blow open a 6-1 victory.

“How do I say this nicely?

You can’t give up four goals on four shots,” Morris said. “That’s basically what went wrong. We played well. We played hard. I think even the second period was even, but we gave up, I think it was, four goals on four straight shots. So we just need our goalies to be a little bit more aggressive.”

Amherst answered an early power-play goal by Kenston’s Valentino Carriero, who went to the backhand at the left bar, at the 5-minute, 53-second mark of the opening period.

Jacob Kramer threw a wrister on net from the right circle, which was saved, but the sophomore pounced on the rebound to make it a 1-1 game.

The Comets showed some even-strength promise in the defensive zone in clogging passing lanes as the first period wore on and had a golden opportunity at the start of the second.

The Bombers (13-2) were assessed a five-minute major, putting Amherst on the man advantage. Circumstances quickly turned, though, when Kenston senior Nick Kendra slotted a slapshot from the right circle at 5:02 of the second for a 2-1 lead.

A three-goal flurry in a span of 3:10, started by John Barto’s wrister, sealed the deal for the Bombers.

“The difference with the three divisions, I think when you get into the Red, you have two really good forward lines at least and three defensemen,” Morris said. “So they can go, and the kids stay at a pretty fast pace. Some of them in the Red obviously have three lines that can roll.

“When you get into the White, there seems to be a little bit of a dropoff. Every team seems to have two or three kids that are head and shoulders above everybody else. And when you get into the Blue, it seems like you might get down to one or two kids. So I think it allows everyone to play some even games. I think the White is pretty even. I think sometimes White teams can compete with the Red, and I think sometimes Blue can compete with White. But overall, I don’t think a lot of the White teams can compete on a daily basis with the Red because we just don’t have either the number of players or the quality of players that they have.”