Amherst comeback continues

In only its second season back as a varsity program, Amherst will play for the Southwestern Conference title.

The Comets topped North Olmsted, 3-1, in an SWC Tournament semifinal Jan. 15. The win sets up a showdown with Olmsted Falls, which topped Midview, 6-5, in overtime in the other semifinal. The date, time and location of the final is to be determined.

The Comets (20-2-0) will be fighting for their first SWC title since claiming two straight from 2012-13.

And, if he is being completely honest with himself, Amherst coach Steve Morris is a bit surprised his team has already made an SWC final.

“Surprising,” Morris said. “You don’t expect it. There’s a lot of good teams right now in the conference. There’s six or seven teams that could have won this thing. To be in the final, the kids need to be proud of the effort that they put in.

“Being the second year of the program, you can’t expect to even be in the semifinals, let alone make the finals.”

How did the Comets make it to the final?

Behind timely offense and great goaltending from sophomore Zac Boesel.

Boesel notched 18 saves in the win and Amherst got the game-winning goal from junior

Michael Giannuzzi near the midpoint of the second period, breaking a 1-1 tie that lasted from the first period when North Olmsted’s Jake Hirz knotted it up following a goal by Amherst’s Jacob Fekete.

“I was extremely frustrated with how I was playing in the first period,” Giannuzzi said of his gamewinner. “I was just going to skate and see what happens. I got it to the net as hard as I could, and it went in.”

For Boesel, making it to the SWC final is all that he could ask for.

“It’s awesome,” Boesel said. “I mean, after last year, I would never have thought we could come this far.”

For as good as Boesel was, his North Olmsted (115-0) counterpart, Ryan Godin, was just as strong.

Godin made 38 saves in the loss, a fact that did not escape Morris.

“He made three or four saves that were just unbelievable saves,” Morris said. “Whether we hit his glove or he went sliding over, he played extremely, extremely well.”

However, forcing Godin

to remain on the ice at the end of the game is where Amherst sealed its victory.

With two minutes remaining and Amherst leading, 2-1, the Eagles were attempting to get Godin off the ice for an extra skater. The Comets, though, refused to let North Olmsted clear the puck from its defensive zone, and Godin did not get off the ice until 21 seconds remained.

“That was frustrating,” North Olmsted coach Ben Palocko said. “It’s one where I want to watch the tape on that again. We have our plan set

up, and it seems like it would be simple enough to execute.

“But they have those couple of guys that I think are just super smart. I mean, 24 (Fekete) and 25 (Jacob Kramer) were just buzzing around and keeping it in the zone. They have a super smart team, and that was big for them and killer for us. It was tough, but I think it was just another nod to them on how well they play the game.”

Amherst sophomore Kramer sealed the win with an empty net goal with five seconds remaining.

RANDY MEYERS — THE MORNING JOURNAL Michael Giannuzzi of Amherst moves the puck past the North Olmsted defense near center ice at the SWC tournament Jan. 15.