The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
University eliminated in district semifinal
One end of the hallway featured Calvin Harris’ “Feel So Close” pulsating with bass from the locker room and players posing with gold hardhats and a WWE championship belt postgame Feb. 27.
Unfortunately for University after its Brooklyn East District semifinal against Walsh Jesuit, it was not their end.
The Preppers felt close, and yet so far.
Kellen McGarry’s second-period goal gave US the lead, but the Warriors responded late in the second through Hunter Nalepka and the eventual game-winner early in the third from Jackson Holzapfel for a gritty 2-1 win.
The Preppers bowed out at 14-13-1, while Walsh will face Mentor, a 2-1 double-overtime winner over Gilmour, in the Brooklyn East District final at 7 p.m. March 5.
US coach Andy Gerow conceded this one, with a veteran-laden squad wanting to return to the frozen four, was and is going to sting.
“Those guys, they work hard,” Gerow said of the Warriors. “They don’t take a shift off. They kept coming. so
THE SCORE WALSH JESUIT 2, UNIVERSITY 1
Their first goal was just relentless pressure. We couldn’t get the puck out. We did some good things, and we made some mistakes.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our group. They left all they had on the ice there. That 6-on-5 at the end, we had a couple looks at it and didn’t get it to go. But again, I can’t be more proud of the group. Six seniors, those guys, that’s a great group. I don’t even know how we’re going to do without them. I haven’t even started thinking about that. Yeah, a tough way to go.”
US opened its account in the second period. Sam Wade, a freshman forward who had a fine game on the Preppers’ second line with McGarry and Mark Berglund, fed out to McGarry, stationed on the left circle.
The sophomore snapped a wrister at 3:27 for a 1-0 advantage.
But Walsh (16-9-3), to its utmost credit, played an efficient puck-possession style with grit on the boards and shortened the game nicely.
The Warriors tied it at 1 through a Nalepka banger at 12:56 of the second.
Then in the third, Holzapfel
carried into his zone and slotted a wrister at 2:57 of the third, which proved to be the final margin.
US was not lacking in quality looks, all the way to a frantic final minute with goaltender Jeffrey Fillion pulled for an extra attacker. But it wasn’t to be. Coming into Feb. 27, a Round 5 rubber match in the Battle of SOM seemed likely for the Brooklyn East District final — as did a Holy War encounter between St. Edward and St. Ignatius in the Brooklyn West bracket.
Then Mentor stunned Gilmour, Rocky River stunned St. Ignatius — and Walsh capped off a run of upsets on the venerable ice at Brooklyn in the nightcap.
In a season filled with
quarantines and demands to travel for practice and games unlike any previous campaign, Gerow lauded his group for its perseverance overall.
“Yeah, it’s been a crazy one,” Gerow said. “Definitely not what we drew up. But I was happy to play as much as we did, and I give credit to these kids and their families. Whenever I said we were going to Rocky River at 6 a.m., they said, ‘When do you need us there?’ So they were excited every time we got the chance to play.
“It was definitely one that we’ve never experienced before. But again, I can’t be more proud of how they responded, all the challenges and adversity that they faced.”