Sunday, December 22, 2002
The Cardinals could not hold a 2-0 lead.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- For 40 minutes and 22 seconds, the Canfield Cardinals dominated the Aurora Greenmen.
It was the other 4:38 that did them in.
Alex Carr, Brett Humbert and Drew Troy each had a goal and two assists, the Greenmen scoring three unanswered goals between the second and third periods during the aforementioned span as Aurora defeated Canfield, 3-2 in Greater Cleveland High School Hockey Association at The Ice Zone Saturday.
"This was a big win for us simply because we haven't played that well the last two times out," Aurora coach Chuck Maruniak said.
"Give credit to Canfield as they really took it to us in the first period. That caused us to wake up, make some adjustments and concentrate on execution."
The win broke a two-game losing streak for the Greenmen (5-2-0).
Early lead
"The first period was our best period of play this season," Canfield coach Joe Villano said. "There were two reasons and those were discipline and staying to our positions. When we killed a penalty we stayed disciplined. The second period is when we became undisciplined."
Steve Kline, assisted by Michael Vrable, gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead just 6:22 into the game. When Philipp Tolf assisted Tim Jones at 12:19 of the opening period, all seemed to be working for Canfield as they took a 2-0 lead into the locker room.
The Cardinals (1-8-2, 1-6-1) outshot Aurora 11-5 in the opening period but would manage just 14 more shots on goal during the final 30 minutes of play.
The line of Carr, Humbert and Troy for Aurora proved to be too much for the Cardinals to stop. Each had a goal during that 4:38 stretch between the second and third periods, all three adding two assists as well.
"All three players -- Alex Carr, Brett Humbert and Drew Troy -- have been our leaders all season long," Maruniak said. "They are our stalwarts who get things going for us.
"When we finally adjusted after the first period, everybody seemed to be in sync. Our first two goals, both power play goals, got us right back into the game."
Carr's power play goal got the Greenmen on the board first at 12:37, cutting the Cardinal lead in half at 2-1. When Troy added his power play goal just 13 seconds before the end of the period, Aurora knotted the score at 2 heading into the final 15 minutes.
Pulling ahead
It took just 2:15 into the final period for Humbert to etch his name in the goal column. His even strength goal gave Aurora a 3-2 lead and a margin they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
"We became undisciplined in the second period and it cost us," Villano said. "Sometimes our players have a tendency to try to do too much and that was the case tonight."
"Our goalie, Ryan DeJoe came up big for us quite a few times tonight. The final score is not an indicator of the excellent job that he did for us in goal tonight."
Aurora had 29 shots on goal, 24 coming after the opening period, while the Cardinals registered 25 shots on goal. Greenmen goalie Adam Swift rejected 23 Canfield shots.