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Preppers take down Lancers in bruiser
(by Tony Lange - March 08, 2012)
Preppers take down Lancers in bruiser
By TONY LANGE
Hard hitting would be an understatement for the University School-Gilmour Academy district final ice hockey game at Kent State's ice arena last Friday.
The Preppers' Evan Krueger drew first blood when he flung a shot past Gilmour's Oliver Flesher at the 7:23 mark of the first period to give University School a 1-0 lead.
Watching his freshman score that first goal was thrilling, head coach Bill Beard said.
"I don't think about him as a youngster," Beard said. "During the game, he's No. 8, and he's playing. Then he walks out of here, and I go, 'Holy moly, I'm playing this kid?' But yeah, I don't really think about him as a freshman."
Not only is Krueger the lone freshman on University School's 22-player roster, but he starts for the Preppers (23-9-3), who went on to beat Gilmour, 4-2, and advanced to play St. Edward (19-12-3) in the state semifinals at noon March 10 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
St. Edward beat previously undefeated St. Ignatius (39-1) in a 3-2 district final game last Saturday.
While University School lost to St. Ignatius, 9-0 and 3-0, this season, the Preppers beat St. Edward, 4-2, Dec. 3 and, 4-3, Dec. 23.
The winner of the US-St. Edward matchup will play the winner of the Sylvania Northview (29-1-3)-Lewis Center Olentangy Orange (34-8) matchup at 11 a.m. March 11.
During University School's win against Gilmour, the Lancers tied the game at 1-1, when Alex Rupp netted an equalizer at the 6:01 mark of the first period.
Before the end of the period, the Preppers reclaimed the lead off of senior Matt Wipper's goal. Wipper, who suffered a concussion Jan. 6, just rejoined the Preppers Feb. 25 during their postseason run.
After the awards ceremony, he walked off the ice with a bloody gash to his chin, but that didn't stop him from smiling.
"It's absolutely awesome, especially after being out for half of the season," he said of contributing to the win. "Coming back and getting in my groove, it felt great. Being a senior in this game and scoring, whether it was the winning goal or not, it just feels amazing."
During the second period, the power plays and power kills mounted at both ends of the ice as five penalties were whistled for roughing, tripping, slashing, holding and head contact -- three against University School and two on Gilmour.
Amidst all that head butting, Brad Marshall managed to slip a shot through the five, or legs, of Gilmour's Oliver Flesher to give the Preppers a 3-1 advantage heading into the third period.
"Watching Krueger get his goal lit a fire in my head. I knew my next shot I had to put it in, and I knew I just had to try as hard as I could," said Marshall, who broke his thumb in December and missed a month after having pins put in it. "I got it off my stick and right through the five, and that was obviously the most special feeling I've had since I've been at US."
In the third period, Gilmour seemed to gain the momentum with Ryan Hall's goal at the 14:05 mark, when he cleaned up the garbage in front of an open net and brought the Lancers back to within one.
"A two-goal lead is a tricky lead. The team who gets the next goal gets a huge momentum, and I thought we got it with our goal early in the third," Gilmour head coach John Malloy said. "And so the momentum was there, but we come back, and minutes later there was an easy play to just get the puck out of the zone, but instead we make a soft play and turn the puck right over to them, and they come in on a two-on-one and make a nice play."
Perhaps the most important goal of the game, University School's Sam Strang buried the puck during that two-on-one opportunity, killing Gilmour's momentum and regaining a two-goal lead for the Preppers at the 12:29 mark.
"That was huge," Beard said. "And to do it with your third line, it feels even better. We had to get the momentum back, because they had the momentum. When a goal is scored like that, all of a sudden they get their lights going, and we had to answer, and we did."
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