The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mentor’s 14-game win streak halted
After Mentor’s nonleague headliner Feb. 1 against Shaker Heights at Thornton Park, the Red Raiders enjoyed cake in recognition of their senior night.
The Cardinals would prefer it didn’t taste quite as sweet as it likely did.
Josh Floyd’s third-period goal propelled Shaker to a 4-3 win over Mentor, halting a 14-game winning streak for the Cardinals (262-1) and buoying the Kent District seeding case for the Red Raiders (19-8-3).
Both of Mentor’s setbacks this winter have come to Shaker at Thornton Park, this and a 1-0 loss Dec. 15 in the Thornton Park tournament final.
“I thought we were good at points tonight,” Cardinals coach Paul McKito said.
“I thought early and often, we had a lot of O-zone time. We were creating off the cycle. But I thought from 10 feet inside the blue line to 10 feet outside the blue line, we weren’t very good and we were turning the puck over too many times. Overall, we got some good pushes. They get a goal that gets deflected and finds a way in the net — that happens sometimes.
“We bounced back after being down twice, and we work hard to get the lead. And then, it just wasn’t our day. I thought we could have done a lot more of the little things, win more 5050 pucks tonight that probably could have made a difference. Overall, it’s hard to come and play in here. It’s a short surface, and you’ve got to play a different style of hockey. We knew what to expect. We just couldn’t find a way to finish.”
Mentor went into intermission after two locked in a 1-1 dogfight. Sophomore Eric Toth continued his
breakout campaign with a long wrister gloveside for his 19th goal of the winter.
The third was wild, kickstarted by Shaker grabbing the lead in the opening minute of the period. Tyler Lencewicz did well to create a turnover, chip through the neutral zone and walk in a wrister 30 seconds in for a 2-1 advantage.
The Cardinals answered 35 seconds later, when freshman Brad Backston threw a slapper on net that became a knucklepuck going in and found the back of the net low and shortside at 1:05.
Luke Jeffery gave Mentor a brief lead with a banger at the top of the crease amid a scramble at 2:58.
But Shaker had the final say.
The Red Raiders got a redirect of a Jeff Sauerland wrister from high in the zone at 6:05. Then at 9:34, Floyd notched the game-winner, cleaning up a look at the left bar after Mark Sauerland skated in wide on an odd-man rush.
This key result from the Red Raiders further muddies Kent District seeding,
with the Cardinals potentially, and perhaps to an extent harshly, dropping to a No. 3 seed behind formidable fellow area squad Gilmour (20-7-1) and Shaker with two head-to-head defeats despite being 26-2-1.
As February commences, McKito knows business is about to pick up.
“There’s some really good hockey teams,” McKito said of the Kent District. “Somebody gets a hot goaltender. Somebody gets on a run. We figure, maybe we put together another 10-game win streak here and get to where our final goal is. We had a long undefeated streak and a long win streak. Unfortunately, this team has ended them both. “There’s some good hockey clubs on this side. Once we get to the quarterfinals down to the semis, there’s going to be some good hockey clubs left, and the games will be good.”
Coming soon
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