The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
AL wins; Eagles get heartache
Avon Lake dominates Westlake in first round of SWC tournament; Avon loses in overtime to Lakewood
It was an easy win for Avon Lake and heartbreak for Avon in the first-round games of the Southwestern Conference hockey tournament on Jan. 13.
Avon Lake cruised to a 7-1 win over Westlake and Avon lost to Lakewood, 3-2, in overtime.
Jared Aslasken returned for the Shoremen after sitting out several games due to illness and he had a hat trick and an assist. Connor Koncelik and Timothy Lubertozzi added two goals apiece and Edgars York a pair of assists.
“I think it was a product of three good practices. I liked our practices this week,” Avon Lake coach Fran Sullivan said. “We’re all healthy. Aslasken sat out the last few games so he hasn’t really played in about two weeks. I thought
in particular he looked like his old self, and he’s as stubborn as anybody on the team. He wants to be out there.”
Avon Lake (17-5) came out aggressively to start the game and took a 3-0 lead in the first period, but slowed down a bit in the second until picking its usual pace back up in the final 15 minutes.
Despite a good offensive output, the Shoremen were disappointed by the sluggish pace in the second period and Koncelik said in terms of putting a full game together, the team still has room to improve.
“I feel like in the second period we struggled with puck movement, but as the game went on obviously we got better and it’s just going to continue to get better throughout the tournament,” Koncelik said.
“From our point of view, we’re just trying to put a full game together. That’s the best thing we can do right now, obviously, play as aggressive as we can while still playing defense. We just have to move the puck and continue to skate as hard as we’ve been.”
The Shoremen will face fourth-seeded Olmsted Falls (7-8) Jan. 14 in the quarterfinals.
Eagles lose in OT
Lakewood tied the game with one second left in regulation before getting a lucky bounce in overtime and beating Avon, 3-2, Jan. 13 to advance in the tournament.
Avon’s Gabe Intagliata scored two quick goals in the opening period to give the Eagles (5-19) a 2-0 lead, but the offense soon stalled.
Robert McFarlin scored for Lakewood (10-5) with 1:41 left in the second period to make it 2-1, then Will Holden took a shot from just inside the blue line to send the game to overtime.
The Rangers took all the momentum with them into overtime, and at the 1:34 mark, Patrick Gilman shot the puck into traffic before it deflected off a defender and sailed into the net.
“Give credit to Lakewood. They played hard. They hung around. They did systems. They did everything they needed to do,” Avon coach Kyle Botos said. “We got a lead and just kind of sat back and it’s just one of those things. You let a team hang around, hang around, hang around, they get those three lucky bounces and it happens.”
Botos was discouraged by the way the game played out but felt the loss is the reality check his team needs with just under a month left in the regular season.
The Eagles are in fourth place in the Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League White North Division and face Parma on Jan. 20 and Bay Jan. 21 in two crucial division games.
“We need to outwork teams and need to keep it all very simple,” Botos said. “Once we stray from simple hockey we just get lost out there and I think today was a reality check, which we need . ... It’s unfortunate. Hats off to Lakewood and we’ll try to rebound from this. There’s nothing else we can do.”