The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Bay beats Olmsted Falls at semifinal
Bay defeats Olmsted Falls, moves on to face St. Edward in the next round
It’s not often that you get to watch the complete development of a team during the span of one game.
But if that’s what it took, the Bay Rockets were going to do it.
And it resulted in a 3-1 win against Olmsted Falls in a Brooklyn District sectional semifinal on Feb. 19 at Brooklyn’s John M. Coyne Recreation Center.
Bay (14-11-1) advances to face St. Edward in a sectional final on Feb. 22 at 5:30 p.m. Olmsted Falls’ season closes at 13-13-1.
“You saw a bit of everything
from us in this game,” Bay coach Kevin Kittrick said. “You saw the good and the bad from us.”
But how did that result in a full development for the Rockets?
It’s simple, and it came little by little each period.
In the first period, both teams were working to find their feet. Olmsted Falls had not played since winning the Baron Cup II on Feb. 12 and Bay had not seen game action since Feb. 6.
The rust showed, as the teams combined for 17 shots in the period, with only three or four that could be considered quality opportunities.
The second period was each team learning the game situation, skating harder and getting better opportunities.
Then came the third period. The period where everything clicked.
And the period when everything got a lot more physical.
Nine penalties in the period resulted in two powerplay goals, one of which was a 5-on-3 situation, and a 4-on-4 goal, as Bay’s Chris Eifert emerged as the hero, netting the game-winner as well as a second one to give the Rockets some breathing room.
“The intensity picked up a little bit,” Eifert said. “We knew we had to come out (in the third period) and play harder. We wanted to win this one.”
A goal by Bay’s Jacob Gaudino — the only fullstrength goal of the game — put the Rockets in front with 7:49 to play.
That’s when Eifert took the reins.
The junior scored a pair of unassisted goals — the first while skating 4-on-4 and the second with man advantage — with a 5-on-3 goal by Olmsted Falls’ Jacob Kerkay wedged between.
“The game winner, I just got it in our defensive zone and didn’t see anyone cutting hard up ice,” Eifert said. “I just decided to take it in myself and let the shot go. The last one, I just picked it off from the goalie and snuck that one in there, too.”
Kittrick was not surprised by Eifert’s performance, saying he’s been a solid player along with Gaudino all year long.
“He was fantastic today,” Kittrick said. “He and Gaudino work together as a team a lot of times and it’s great to see them both do well.”
For Olmsted Falls, coach Brian Thompson said that he thought his team had trouble getting the emotion back in their first game following the Bulldogs’ Baron Cup II victory and that, by the time the emotion started to emerge, it was too late.
“We’ve never experienced coming off that Baron Cup before,” Thompson said. “It almost feels like a finality. To get revved back up for another game after that, it’s tough to do. But they (Bay) played well and wanted it. By the time our guys really got into it, it was just too late.”
“The intensity picked up a little bit,” Eifert said. “We knew we had to come out (in the third period) and play harder. We wanted to win this one.”
— Bay’s Chris Eifert