Chagrin arrives late, still looks great

Chagrin Falls was stuck in traffic on the Valley View bridge Feb. 11 due to an accident on Interstate 480, as the scheduled start for its Baron Cup III quarterfinal against Lakewood inched closer.

What the Tigers did when they finally arrived at Brooklyn brought the exhilaration a bungee jump off that bridge to Canal Road below would.

Especially for Matt Revnew. The freshman netted a hat trick on his birthday, and Chagrin delivered a vital 5-on-3 penalty kill early in the third period and blew open from there a 5-1 win over the Rangers.

“Yeah, this is pretty crazy,” Revnew said, getting congratulatory pats on his right shoulder as his teammates exited the locker room. “Just everything happened at the right time.

“It just all kind of came together. One thing led to the next. It just went really

well.”

Chagrin (15-7-2) will take on top-seeded Orange in a Baron Cup III semifinal at 1 p.m. Feb. 15.

The Tigers were put in a precarious spot, getting to Brooklyn about 10 minutes before an intended 4:30 p.m. puck drop. The game still started before 5, rushing pregame prep because there was no alternative.

Coach Jim Revak’s squad handled the challenge of that — and a Lakewood squad to which it had lost twice in Blue North play this winter — impeccably.

“We got some scoring from an unanticipated person, but our goal was to put as many shots as we can on them and bang in rebounds,” Revak said. “Matt did a great job of that.

“The 5-on-3, I think, was the critical thing. That was the turning point. Being able to kill that off and then coming back with a couple more goals. We played smart — and you don’t hear me say that much. Pucks were deep. Nobody got behind us on a breakaway, not even any odd-man rushes. So it was really smart hockey. The boys played really well. I’m really proud of them.”

Chagrin found itself locked in a tight 2-1 game after two. After a scoreless opening period, Revnew cashed in a rebound from the right side of the crease off an initial Tyler Bookman look 67 seconds into the second.

The freshman followed with a wrister from the left circle at 4:20.

“(The second one) was right in front of the net,” Revnew said. “I just saw it pop out, and I was right there, so I shot it low and it went underneath his pad. I kind of got lucky on that one. The more chances we get, the better.”

Jude Johnson responded for Lakewood (20-10) with 37 seconds remaining before intermission with a wrister shortside.

In the third amid a 2-1 game, the Tigers had to endure 1:41 of a 5-on-3 penalty kill after elbowing and tripping penalties, but did well to manage the sequence. Chase Lowry even turned in a decent 5-on-3 shorthanded chance at 6:37 that went high into the netting.

Chagrin took firm control from there with three tallies in a 3:35 span. Garrin Bunker put away a wrister between the circles at 10:11, and Revnew banged in a rebound to cap his hat trick at 11:06.

Bookman, as part of a strong two-way performance, struck for a shorthanded goal with 1:04 left for the final margin.

The Tigers are now on a seven-game unbeaten run — even after being late to the party Feb. 11.

“I looked at the clock, and it was 4:10, so I had to check and realized as soon as we were going to get here, we were going to have to get changed and get on the ice,” Revnew said. It was really just about, ‘OK, we’ve got to be ready.’ And we were.”