GRANITE CITY – Edwardsville took on CBC for a third time this Mid-States Club Hockey Association season Thursday night.
Like their first two encounters, nothing came easy for either team.
This time out, the Cadets got out to a fast start and managed to hold off the Tigers, taking a 4-2 win at Granite City’s Wilson Park Ice Rink.
The win put the Tigers’ record at 14-5-1 (29 points) overall on the season, 10-4-1 (21 points) in the Municipal Conference with one game remaining; the Cadets improved to 15-3-0 (30 points) overall and 13-1-0 (26 points) with one game left for them.
“We made a couple of mistakes the first few shifts, and when you do that against a good team, they capitalize,” Tiger coach Jason Walker said. “It’s never a good thing (especially considering the Cadets scored in the opening minute of the game), but these guys slowly battled their way back. It seems we’re like getting one early, so we’re aware of what it takes as far as the game goes.”
The Tigers had fallen behind 3-0 when the third period came about, but rallied and got a couple of goals to pull to 3-2 before CBC shut the door on them in the late going. “Really, after the first period, I thought we really settled in,” Walker said. “We played a pretty good game and limited their chances and did a nice job defensively; we had some chances to bury a couple (of shots) early just couldn’t. I thought their goalie (Jack Caruso) was outstanding.”
“Edwardsville’s a very good team,” said Cadet coach John Jost. “Every game’s been tight and we’ve seen them a lot, so we know they’re a talented group and caught a few breaks tonight.”
Jost felt the Tigers’ move to Mid-States this season from the Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association has been a good one for everyone involved. “It’s helped them, helped our league, helped Mississippi Valley,” Jost said. “It’s made our league a better league.”
Cadet goals from Eric Brown (assisted by Michael Deeba) just 1:23 into the game and from Clayton Dawe (assisted by Bud Winter) at 5:48 of the first helped set the one, Jost felt. “I think the quick start – us getting two goals early – helped us a lot,” Jost said. “Penalties hurt us, especially in the second period; we killed off four penalties. It broke a lot of our momentum and kept us from using our depth, which hurt us, but all in all, it’s a good win for us.”
Edwardsville did have their chances in the opening two periods but couldn’t find the range. “I thought we had a couple of prime scoring chances, especially on the power play,” Walker said. “We just didn’t bang them in, their goalie (Caruso) made some great saves, full credit to him.”
A Winter goal from Dawe and Brendan O’Donnell about halfway through the second period seemed to put the Tigers on their heels, but Edwardsville made a comeback bid in the third period when Tyler Schaeffer scored from a Ben Gibbons assist four minutes into the third period to cut the Cadet lead to 3-1. Stanley Lucas then brought EHS to a goal with 4:23 left when, with James Akeman off for interference, Lucas skated up-ice to the Cadet goal and beat Caruso for a shorthanded goal to pull Edwardsville to 3-2.
Brown responded with an unassisted goal, beating Tiger netminder Mason Young with 3:17 left to restore a two-goal CBC lead. The Tigers pulled Young after a time-out, but couldn’t find a way past Caruso.
Edwardsville had 17 shots on goal, with Caruso making 15 saves; the Cadets fired 31 shots on goal, Young turning back 27 shots.
The possibility exists that both teams could face each other at some point in the Mid-States postseason tournament. “I think both teams would love that opportunity (to go up against each other in the postseason),” Walker said. “It was a good hockey game tonight; it’s a good hockey game every time we play them, so that would be exciting.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Jost said about the possibility of playing Edwardsville at some point in the postseason. “I’ve got a feeling that we’ll see them somewhere along the way and we’ll know what we’ll be up against. That’s a talented group; they’re well-coached.”
Edwardsville has one regular-season game left, at 8:45 p.m. Saturday against St. Louis U. High at Webster Groves, Mo. The playoff participants and seedings will be released by the MSCHA following Saturday’s season finales, with the playoffs beginning sometime next week.
