Pirates to play in Baron Cup I final

Ice hockey is one of those sports where the better team doesn’t always win and the dominant team doesn’t always dominate. Sometimes a spark is needed.

Rocky River got such a spark late in the second period of its Baron Cup I semifinal against Strongsville Feb. 10 at the Brooklyn Ice Arena, helping them to a 4-2 victory and a berth in the finals. Rocky River, 20-10, will face Shaker Heights at 5:30 Feb. 11 in the championship game at Brooklyn.

With the Pirates clinging to a 2-1 lead with just over a minute remaining in the period, leading scorer Ted Stueber appeared to have scored a goal, but it was whistled off. Strongsville goalie Luke Bell made the initial stop, but the puck came loose and as it was sliding across the goal line, the official blew his whistle and waved off the goal.

“He said he thought the goalie had frozen the puck,” Rocky River coach Chris Cogan said. “I thought he was out of position, but what can you do? It is what it is.”

Rather than get angry, the Pirates got even — and then some. Stueber followed with a goal just 24 seconds later, and teammate Luke Witzigreuter found the nets a scant 8 seconds after that, giving Rocky River a 4-1 advantage that was too much for the Mustangs to overcome.

“I would say that fired us up,” Stueber said of the call. “I was extremely disappointed. I felt we did what we should — we brought the puck up and put it in. But the ref’s human and he made a mistake.”

After the controversial call, Stueber, who has

now scored 34 goals on the season, fired a wrist shot at Bell with 41 seconds to play in the period. The senior lifted the shot over Bell’s right shoulder into the upper left corner and Bell was helpless to do anything about it.

As the goal was being announced over the loud speaker, the Pirates took the faceoff at center ice and stuffed the puck into the goal at the 33-second mark. Aiden Dempsey took the initial shot for Rocky River, with Witzigreuter muscling it across the goal line after Bell made the stop.

The two quick goals finally gave the Pirates some return on all their hard work. They absolutely dominated play, outshooting Strongsville, 5024. The dominance was most apparent in the second period, when Rocky River took 24 shots to 7 for Strongsville. At one point, both teams had seven shots in the period, meaning the Pirates took the final 17 shots while not allowing one for the Mustangs.

“We had lots of shots and lots of opportunities, but we needed to start capitalizing,” Cogan said. “One thing that I think helped us is they had a short bench and we were running three and four lines. I think we wore them down a little bit.”

Avon Lake wins

The Shoremen are about to play for their first Baron Cup.

Avon Lake secured its spot in the Baron Cup III final, topping Lakewood, 2-1, on Feb. 10 at Brooklyn’s John M. Coyne Recreation Center.

Avon Lake (24-6-0) will face Normandy (22-5-0) on Feb. 11 at 1 p.m. for the title.