University falls to Holy Name in final

The Preppers put up a fight on Feb. 9, but the Green Wave prevailed in the Cleveland Cup championship game, 2-1. Chris Lillstrung has the details.

University clawed and scratched its way through the Cleveland Cup final Feb. 9 against Holy Name at Strongsville.

Unfortunately from the Preppers’ perspective, they were doing it against a wall of Green Wave that could not be penetrated enough.

Patrick Ehlert and Brennan Dickey each contributed timely goals, and Holy Name emerged from a dogfight with a 2-1 victory,

US (15-15-2) was not lacking in puck possession in a game in which there were only 39 shots combined. But the Green Wave (21-94) made every puck scrap along the boards a battle for survival and got the big goals from Ehlert and Dickey to make it stand.

“(Holy Name coach Tim Sullivan) over there, they’ve got a great group,” Preppers coach Andy Gerow said. “They give 100 percent every time they touch the ice. He’s got a great program over there, and they work hard.

“They’ve got a great group, and that third period, it took us a little bit to get going. A mistake early to give up that second one, but our guys never quit. That happens. They’re going to fight down to the last second.”

The game was scoreless deep into the second period, until the Green Wave went on the power play courtesy of a US tripping penalty amid a zone breakout. Ehlert made them pay with a wrister from the right circle that clanged the bar but went in at 9:55 for a 1-0 lead.

At 6:11 of the third, Preppers senior goaltender Critter Coughlin, who was superb between the pipes with 43 saves in a 2-1 overtime victory over Gilmour the night before, made a nice stop amid a 3-on-1.

But exactly one minute later, Holy Name got its necessary cushion. On an attempted US zone clearance that was intended to carom around the back boards of the defensive zone, Dickey was stationed behind the net on the right side and sensed the puck didn’t have enough force to get to the opposite boards. So the standout junior forward pounced on the puck from the back boards, walked up and hit a banger on the crease just before Coughlin could get his pad over at 7:11.

Gerow pulled Coughlin for an extra attacker in the waning minutes, and US got a lifeline with 1:22 left. Jack Henry Muha fed across for Andrew Rozenshtraukh, who tapped in a wrister to cut it to 2-1.

Coughlin remained pulled as the Preppers eyed a potential tying goal, but some gritty work by Holy Name on the boards that was a calling card for the evening and a late US boarding penalty nixed that aspiration.

“We had some chances late,” Gerow said. “They blocked a lot of shots. They get in front of a lot of stuff. And we couldn’t get that last one to tie it up.”

Gerow is bullish going into the Kent District, given the tenacity he saw from his charges this week at Strongsville, including a nice win over Shaker Heights in a quarterfinal and the aforementioned OT win Feb. 8 over the archrival Lancers.

“It just proves we’re kind of peaking at the right time,” Gerow said. “I think, in this locker room, we believe that on any night, we can beat anybody who shows up. So it’s huge for us moving forward, and now it gets time for the state tournament. You’re only guaranteed your next one, so no matter what, you’ve got to play a good 45 minutes.”