The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Gilmour surging after tough two-year stretch
Gilmour players belted out a spirited version of Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten” on Dec. 23 in the locker room at Iceland USA in Strongsville after a 5-2 Great Lakes Hockey League win over Padua.
If you went through the two winters the Lancers had endured prior to this one, chances are you would be singing, too.
This winter, it was a must for Gilmour to stare at a blank page. And the beauty of a 104-1 start with the new calendar year looming is, as Bedingfield sang, the rest is still unwritten.
Lancers coach John Malloy is never once to mince words, and he knows the last two years, during which Gilmour went 7-57-3, were a nightmare.
Having more wins already in this campaign than those two seasons combined — and putting a solid product on the ice to boot — is a dream.
“I know for a fact, and the kids were talking about this, is that we came into the year with sort of a chip on our shoulder,” Malloy said. “We wanted to prove that we were a better team. So early on, our effort was extraordinary, because we were playing with a chip. Then we won a few games, and the guys I think started believing the news articles that we were good, and they didn’t put the same kind of effort in. We were playing OK, but we weren’t putting the same kind of effort in.
“And now I think we’re back to giving the effort. But some of it was remind- ing them that we went down to Sylvania (for a tournament) 0-for-8 the last two years. We were 0-for-Culver the last two years. We didn’t score a goal in some weekends. I mean, four games and no goals. Can you imagine going through that? So some of these kids, winning three games on a weekend, they’ve never experienced. When you win four games all year ... So I think some of them have a sense that this is a really good year.”
Newcomers have blended well with returnees such as forwards Matt Mangel, John Treppo and Charlie Valenti and defenseman Eamonn Mulkern. Treppo, who had eight goals and 10 assists for 18 points all of last winter, has nine goals and six assists. Valenti (37-10) and Mangel (7-3-10) have also reached double figures in points.
The win over Padua snapped a five-game winless skid against the Bruins, and the Lancers have also dispatched fellow GLHL teams St. Edward and Walsh Jesuit in the opening month-plus. The Eagles had won 18 of 21 and seven straight against
Gilmour before the Lancers’ 5-2 victory Nov. 26.
“Coming into the season, everyone had a chip on their shoulder,” said Mangel, a senior who had a team-high 13-14-27 last winter. “We wanted to come back. We picked up a lot of guys in the offseason — and we had all improved. So we just came out hard, and no one was expecting us. We just came out, and we knew what we were capable of.”
Area highlights
A look at some area highlights from an abbreviated pre-Christmas slate:
• Gilmour and St. Edward Walsh Jesuit the following night. Gilmour beat Meadville, 3-1, on Dec. 2, and has split with Walsh — a 3-2 win Dec. 1 and a 3-1 loss Dec. 16. It doesn’t feel right to put the Lancers at No. 1 on a 1-2-1 patch, so we’ll hold off on that for now. But for once, US has to look in its proverbial rearview for the Crop . ... Kenston pushed its win streak to nine and is dialed in with the Solon holiday tournament on tap. ... Mentor will have had a 10-day break heading into its Lake Catholic holiday tournament opener Dec. 28 . ... No doubt, Lake will have Dec. 29 circled with the archrival Cardinals on the docket after having its 12-game win streak in the series snapped a year ago.
played to a 0-0 tie Dec. 22 in Great Lakes Hockey League play. That marks the teams’ first stalemate since Dec. 14, 2005, when they played to a 2-2 tie in one of their Holy Cross Cup encounters.
• In Kenston’s current nine-game winning streak, the Bombers have outscored their foes, 54-14. Kenston has 82 goals on the winter. It did not score its 82nd goal last year until Jan. 28.
• Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin and Mayfield had a wild one Dec. 22, with the Lions notching a 9-6 victory. That is the most combined goals in a game in the series in recent memory, surpassing a 7-5 NDCL win Jan. 25, 2004. For the Lions in the 9-6 win, Connor Zoul had a team-high six points (two goals, four assists). Trent Szmania contributed a hat trick and two assists, and Will Ferrell also recorded a hat trick.
• University’s 4-4 tie with Walsh Jesuit is its highestscoring GLHL game since an 8-1 win over Gilmour on Feb. 6, 2016, which was part of a three-game GLHL closer in which the Preppers won all three and outscored their foes, 23-3. In the tie with Walsh, Jack Henry Muha scored twice for US.
• And finally, in a primer during a hectic holiday period, here are where News-Herald coverage area squads will be heading for holiday tournaments: Kenston is at the Solon holiday tournament starting Dec. 26. Benedictine and NDCL are at the Heights holiday tournament starting Dec. 27. Lake Catholic is hosting its annual tourney at Mentor Civic Arena beginning Dec. 27, with Mentor once again in the field. Chagrin Falls is in the CVCA holiday tournament at Kent State and opens Dec. 29.
Stats on brief hiatus
Due to the holiday, area stat leaders will not be published this week. They will return next week.