The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Kramer helps send Comets to SWC final
Amherst is one step closer to winning the Southwestern Conference tournament for the third consecutive year and fifth time overall.
The Comets came from behind to down the North Olmsted Eagles, 4-3, on a goal from Joey Kramer with three seconds left in the game. Amherst moves on to the title game and will take on Avon Lake on Jan. 19 at the North Olmsted Recreation Center.
“We just kept coming and coming and they are a good team. They have some really good hockey players,” Amherst coach Steve Morris said. “We kept at it and at the end there, it finally bounced the right way.”
The winning goal was originally credited to Avery Winkelman over the loudspeaker, however, Kramer was the one who netted the goal.
“We really showed up in the third period,” Kramer said.
THE SCORE
AMHERST 4, NORTH OLMSTED 3
“We came out hard and generated a lot more chances. I saw the puck get shot from the point and I saw it sitting there. I wanted to take another stride to see if I had the net and I shot it.”
Kramer was informed after the game how the Comets benefited from a lucky bounce of the puck.
“What they told me was it got through the five hole, bounced over the defensive stick and into the net ... a little puck luck.”
It was a back and forth affair in the first period as both teams traded goals.
Shawn Donovan put North Olmsted up 1-0 in the first minute of the game. Amherst responded by tying the game at 1-1 three minutes later. The Eagles took a 2-1 lead, however, it didn’t last long as Jacob Kramer notched his second goal of the day to tie the game at 2-2.
The Eagles controlled the puck for the majority of the first and second periods as they outshot the Comets 1711 over the first two periods. Ryan Bonham found the back of the net early in the second period to give North Olmsted a 3-2 lead heading into the third period.
In the third, Amherst made their comeback.
The Comets flipped the script and controlled the puck for the majority of the third period. It paid off in a big way as Amherst tied the game at 3-3 on a goal by Nick Ciura with 7:08 left in the game. They outshot the Bulldogs 6-5 in the third and Kramer won it with his last second goal.
“I thought it was a good hockey game,” North Olmsted coach Ben Palacko said. “We’ve worked hard to get better during the year to show that we can hang with this team. We beat them last time and they got us back this time. Sometimes when you have two teams who are that close, it’s going to come down to a goofy bounce one way or the other and I thought we had just as many chances down on their end as they did and they got the last one.”
North Olmsted is back in action Jan. 25 against Westlake.
“We were up one with not much time to go, so we were (focusing) on wasting as much time as possible while keeping it safe.” — Avon Lake’s Isaac Young