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Goals are up for Kenston hockey team
(by Steve Novak - January 29, 2009)
Goals are up for Kenston hockey team
By STEVE NOVAK
Kenston hockey coach Jim Revak didn't have to hand out any many new uniform jerseys to this season's varsity squad.
Most of the players still had their uniforms from the 2007-2008 season. They were underclassmen, and they knew they'd be back.
Revak only lost two members from last season's squad to graduation. The experience that all the rest of the players received last year has so far yielded big dividends. After a 16-10 record last season, this year's Bombers were off to a 15-4-1 record.
Revak said there is a combination of reason for the team's improvement since last season. One of the reasons is the scoring differential. Put very simply, the Bombers are scoring more goals than they did last season, and surrendering fewer goals.
Revak said his team is averaging 6.7 goals per game this season, while giving only an average of 2.9 goals each contest. Last season, his team scored 5.9 goals each game, but gave up 4.5 goals on average per game.
"That's a big difference," he said. "Our offense has always been good, but this year we've defended better."
Revak said last year the starting goalie was lost early in the season due to injury, which gave the team a lack of experience in backup players who took over defending the net.
But this year, the team has two goaltenders -- Doug Revak and Alex Jeffers. The bulk of the goaltending duties have so far fallen to the freshman son of the coach. But Jeffers, also a freshman, takes over when Doug is not in the game.
The leading scorers have been junior forwards Colton Deeter, Greg Revak and Kyle Weninger.
There are only two seniors on the team, Kyle Weemhoff and Will Johnson. Weemhoff, a forward, is the captain of the team. The co-captains are Greg Revak, A.J. Mangan, Deeter and Weniger.
At one point, Kenston and Chagrin Falls shared a first-place tie in the Blue North Division of the Greater Cleveland Hockey League. They even split two matches this season. The Bombers won on a shootout in December and dropped an overtime decision last week.
Revak said if his team wins the Blue North this year, it would be the first time in three years that the Bombers have won the division championship.
After that, there's the postseason. It's a good bet right now that Kenston will be in the thick of the playoffs, scheduled to begin in mid-February. Kenston's final regular season game is a Feb. 7 matchup against Aurora.
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