Having already determined their seeding for the Baron Cup III tournament, the Aurora Greenmen hockey team enjoyed the extra ice time before the start of the postseason. The Greenmen celebrated senior night and tied Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League Blue Division rival Chagrin Falls 3-3 in a crossover game last Sunday at The Pond in Auburn Township.
“It was just an extra game that we had with Chagrin Falls at the end of the season, so we got more ice time, more experience and reps,” said Coach Joe Lawire. “Of course we did our senior night activities and recognized all of our seniors and their parents and the hard work they have put in over the years.”
The Greenmen (14-11-1, 6-4-0) concluded their regular season with a 1-1-1 record and finished in fourth place in the GCHSHL Blue North Division to become the fifth seed for the Baron Cup III tournament.
Leading 3-2 at the beginning of the third period on Sunday, the Greenmen’s lead vanished when Chagrin Falls’ sophomore forward Josh Baraona scored the equalizer off an assist from sophomore forward Henry Cimperman with 14:12 remaining in regulation.
“The initial shot missed high above the net and hit high off of the glass and took a weird bounce back out into the front of the net which gave them a second chance at it, so they had that one in the beginning of the third,” noted the 11-year coach.
Neither team could score the go-ahead goal in the rest of the third period as Tigers’ junior goalkeeper Nathaniel Newton and sophomore goalkeeper Max Stefano played strong defense in preserve the tie.
In addition to some solid goalie play, Aurora’s efforts were thwarted by having to kill off two penalties in the third period.
According to Lawrie, Aurora was accustomed to playing short-handed, actually having scored goals on 10% of their penalty kills this season.
“It is not the end-all be-all of it but it is not a normal setting and is a little bit taxing on our players as far as ice time and it just disrupts the flow of our bench to be killing penalties, so we want to play teams five-on-five,” he added. “We have more than enough capability to kill penalties. We want to stay in the game flow and make sure our lines are running the way we want them to.”
He also credited Chagrin Falls’ defense for slowing Aurora down and added that any goal that the Greenmen had previously scored did not come off of a clean shot but rather on rebounds or through a sea of players in front of the net.
“We were looking for those opportunities and had some people in the crease and got some nice seam passes across the crease, but were not necessarily able to get ahold of the puck,” Lawire said. “We were pushing all the way down to the final buzzer.”
Since the game did not count as a league game or have any impact on the standings for the Baron Cup III, there was no overtime period or shootout and Aurora recorded their first tie of the season.
Despite the Greenmen surging ahead 2-1 in the first period with a goal from sophomore forward William Adams off assist from senior defender Michael Phillips at the 8:25 mark and a lamplighter by junior defender Brody Markle off an assist from forward Mateo Martinez with 5:58 remaining, Chagrin Falls never yielded.
Despite having a roster of only nine skaters, the Tigers still were a formidable team in the GCHSHL Blue Division and clinched the Blue South title.
“It is unheard of anywhere else to play with that short of a bench,” said Lawrie. “I would say it is pretty incredible with what they are able to do with it.”
Having wrapped up their season, Aurora has its sights set on making the most out of the Baron Cup III and the Ohio High School Athletic Association tournament. Despite finishing their final weekend of the regular season with a 1-1-1 record, Lawrie said that the Greenmen feel their best is yet to come.
He added that his squad is not satisfied with what they have already accomplished and are looking for more.
“We are a team that has plenty of life and plenty of energy left in us and I think we have some guys that are really going to bring the house down in these remaining games,” he noted. “We have couple of players here that are really heating up here in the back half of the season as far as offensive threats go.”
Aurora’s Baron Cup III title hopes were dashed when they lost the fourth seeded Solon Comets on Monday night.
Aurora will now wait for the draw for the OHSAA postseason this Sunday and will begin play next week.
