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Cards juggle numbers game
Canfield vs Chagrin Hockey
Gallery
Fewer players create adversity for Canfield
By DAN HINER
BOARDMAN
The Canfield High School hockey team has faced a season of adversity.
After moving up to the White South Division for the 2016-17 season, the Cardinals have dealt with injuries and a smaller roster than most of the teams they face.
Canfield’s roster size played a role in the team’s 8-4 loss to Chagrin Falls on Sunday at The Ice Zone.
The Cardinals (5-11) only have 13 players on the team, but Canfield played without Seth Opladen and Jared Russell. Opladen was not allowed to play after fighting in a previous game and Russell was out with an injury.
“They [have] a deeper bench,” Canfield coach Chris Richards said. “We really only have two lines. You could tell later in the third that the guys really didn’t have much left in the tank.”
Chagrin Falls took a 1-0 lead a minute-and-a-half into the first period, but Canfield responded with a goal by forward Robbie Stanko to tie the game.
The Cardinals took a 2-1 lead, their only lead of the game, after forward Jonas Epp scored with 10:57 to go in the opening period.
The Tigers responded with three goals in four minutes to take a 4-2 lead into the first intermission.
“The guys played a hard game,” Richards said. “It’s always tough when you got to be out there and there’s not time for rest, but they stuck with it.
“They got scored on, they’d come back and battle through it,” Richards said. “They got some goals to keep it close. It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t do it until the end.”
By the end of the second period, the Cardinals were skating slower and couldn’t connect on passes to open teammates.
The Cardinals were a little more energized in the third period. Canfield’s Joey Dapolito scored to cut the lead to 4-3, but Chagrin Falls scored again with 10:44 remaining.
The Cardinals responded 10 seconds later. After the Cardinals won the faceoff, Canfield’s Sam Hepola scored. Hepola finished with one goal and two assists.
The Tigers scored three more times in the final 4:20 to clinch the win.
Chagrin Falls left wing Tommy Mallak and Matt McCuskey both had two goals. Mallak also had an assist. Cameron Lucas led the Tigers with two assists.
Richards said the team ran out of gas. He said the Cards played well, but when his team can only make two line changes, that puts his players at a disadvantage.
Canfield goalie Danny Beistel finished with 25 saves. Richards said Beistel kept the Cardinals in the game during the first and second periods, and the game could have been “a lot different” if his goalie didn’t play well.
Richards said the team needs to learn how to play disciplined and consistently for an entire game. He said those were the reasons the Cardinals have had such an up-and-down season.
“It all comes down to when you’re mentally fatigued, how are you gonna react,” said Richards, who played at Ohio State and was a Youngstown SteelHound for all three seasons of the team’s existence. “If you’re not gonna move or get in the right position, they’ll show you what can happen in those spots.
“Our guys just need to go back to the drawing board and show them what happened and how to work on it.”