Texas capitalizes on opportunities

The Tornado beat the Cleveland Barons in a loser's bracket game.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BOARDMAN -- A loose puck wobbling helplessly on the ice in front of the net spells trouble to a hockey goalie and a golden opportunity to the offense.
But when that situation occurs twice within two minutes, created by a swarming offense attacking the goal, it means double trouble for the defense and double-golden opportunity for the offense.
The Texas Tornado found itself in both of these advantageous offensive situations against the Cleveland Barons and their goalie Bobby Jarosz on Thursday in the loser's bracket game of the North American Hockey League Robertson Cup Championship at the Ice Zone.
And Texas capitalized both times as Dylan Cooper and Tom Train seized the loose pucks and tapped in short, back-to-back goals with 10:21 and 12:20 left in the third period for a 4-2 lead.
The two-time defending champions held on for a 5-3 victory to advance to today's semifinal round.
Coach Tony Curtale of the Tornado (43-13) said the loose-puck opportunities near the goal resulted from an aggressive offense.
"Our style is to drive to the net aggressively in our offensive zone," Curtale said. "We were not able to do that yesterday. We had too many penalties."
Barons make it close
After Texas moved ahead, Cleveland cut it to 4-3 on Tomas Petruska's goal on assists from Carter Camper and Josh Leonard with 13:33 remaining.
But with the Barons going for the tying goal, Derek Danowski stole the puck and passed to Karl Sellan who connected with 36.8 seconds left to finish off Cleveland, which lost Wednesday to the Bozeman Icedogs, 2-1.
Ryan Fuller and Sellan had the assists on Cooper's and Train's respective goals.
Sellan and Train each had two goals for the Tornado, which bounced back from a 7-3 loss to Southern Minnesota on Wednesday. Danowski and Fuller each added two assists.
Texas took a quick 2-0 lead on goals by Sellan (3:38) and Train (6:17) in the first period. Danowski and Train had the assists on Sellan's goal while Fuller assisted Train who scored on a power play.
But Cleveland recovered in the second period on Chris Reed's power-play goal on assists from Camper and Trent Bennett at 4:24.
The Barons tied it at 4:53 of the third period on Camper's power-play goal with assists from Petruska and Sean Perkins.
Camper also added two assists.
Aggressive offense helps
"We played better today than we did yesterday," Curtale said. "Our goaltending [by Troy Redmann] was better and we played better in our own goal area."
Redmann made 21 saves while Jarosz made 27. The Tornado enjoyed a 32-24 shots advantage.
Coach John Fritsche of the Barons (35-21), in his first season, said of the two loose pucks near the net that ended in Texas' go-ahead goals, "That's hockey."
As for the loss?
"We got outworked," he said.
Curtale said that Danowski helped to set up Sellan's two goals.
"Danowski had one of his better games. He made a great pass to Sellan two times [on Texas' first and last goals]," said Curtale, who also lauded the defensive work of Cooper and Danowski and their lines, one of four lines used by the Tornado.
"Cooper and Danowski's lines shut down Carter Camper's lines," Curtale said.
Curtale is optimistic about the weekend.
"We lost the first game last year," he said.