Athena/Odyssey defeats Greece rival in Section V Semifinals
PHOTOS
D&C Staff Reports 2/24/09
BRIGHTON — As the unbeaten Greece Athena/Odyssey Thunder skated out for warmups before their sectional semifinals on Tuesday night, a student cheering section from cross-town rival Arcadia/Olympia tried to rattle the state's No. 1 ranked hockey team. Held high to taunt the Thunder was a sign that simply read 22-1. A wishful prediction by the Lightning followers.
Thunder defenseman Eric Gunderson saw it and had other thoughts. "I just wanted to make another sign that read 23-0," Gunderson said. Consider it made as the Thunder defeated the Lightning 2-0 at the ESL Sports Centre, thanks to Gunderson's two goals, Parker Bonis' 13 saves and a superior team effort. In winning, Athena/Odyssey moves into Sunday's 5:30 p.m. Section V Class A championship game against Fairport.
"Give credit where credit is due, they're a very good team," Arcadia/Olympia coach Chuck Dossier said. "They beat up some good teams this year." The Thunder didn't overwhelm the Lightning, but clutch goals by Gunderson provided the necessary comfort zone.
"A lot of people said we peaked early in the year but we've continued to play well," Gunderson said. "Today we just outplayed them." The Thunder outshot the Lightning 11-2 in the first period but didn't score until 13:43. Gunderson's shot from the top of the slot hit a player in front of the net but caromed right back to him in the left circle, and he fired in his own rebound. "I couldn't have done it without Greg Ryan's shoulder," Gunderson said of his teammate. "The shot bounced off him and right back onto my stick."
The goal was critical in terms of establishing superiority. "One of the things they (the Lightning) have been doing is jumping out and making the other teams chase them," Thunder coach Dan Webb said. "We wanted them to chase us." The chase became more desperate when Gunderson scored again at 10:40 of the second period on a power play.
This time the goal came on Brandon Cheeseman's rebound. After goalie Josh Opladen made two point-blank saves on Cheeseman, Gunderson calmly plucked the rebound out of the goal-mouth pile and swept it into the open side of the net. While Bonis wasn't tested more than three or four times in the Thunder net, Opladen was the reason the winning margin was just two goals. The freshman made several great saves. "I'm just so proud of these guys," said Dossier, whose team finished 13-9-2-1. "Everyone doubted us all year long."
Wes Vyverberg Reports
Game Report
Thunder is 22-1, pause, NOT, just ask Bob Newhart and he'll set the record straight. My name i' Borat, I like Thunder. I like a 23-0, it's niiiiiice! That's right, the Greece Athena/Odyssey Thunder Hockey Team remains unbeaten after turning out the lights on the Greece Arcadia/Olympia Lightning and blanking them 2-0 in their sectional semifinal at ESL Sports Centre Tuesday nite. Thunder felt right at Home, warming up in white to the sounds of Sharp Dressed Man, Mission Impossible, and Thunderstruck, as they welcomed junior forward Mike Miller back from an extended leave on the DL that was prompted by an undisclosed lower body injury early on in the season. As both teams took the ice after the post warm-up ice cut, Amanda Sherry, Odyssey graduate and sister of Thunder forward Andy Sherry, delivered her own cut, of the anthem that is. The hits keep on coming and they haven't even dropped the puck yet. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.
The first shift of the game was a little 'sloppy joe', resulting in an early wake-up call for the Thunder when they found themselves short-handed just one minute in at the first stoppage of play. Time to tighten up the screws. Thunder did just that as they killed off the first penalty of the game with authority, dictating the play and preventing Lightning from establishing any sort of measureable presence in their zone on the man advantage. As Thunder cleared the box, a 4-minute rally ensued, with heart-pounding, end-to-end action, before the next whistle would come along to give everyone a chance to catch their breath. The highlight of the rally was watching Eric Gunderson wait out the Lightning's attack on a late-developing 2-on-1, then dropping to his chest at the very last moment and swatting the Lightning puck carrier's pass attempt away with his 12-foot or better reach.
Dan Vyverberg took charge in the pocket for a spell to keep Thunder on the attack, snapping off a series of crisp passes to the forwards regrouping in the neutral zone. Then Gunda did it again, breaking up yet another 2 on 1 rush with that amazing reach while "lying down on the job". And just in case that was not enough to get the boys fired up, Gundi came right back and put away a rebound that kicked out to him after he cranked a shot off the shoulder of teammate and fellow captain, Greg Ryan. It was a greatly anticipated one-hole-goal that would ultimately stand up as the winner in the end. But the Lightning would not quit as they were back in black and on the attack with under a minute to go in the period. Enter JT Stenglein with a solid back checking effort to catch David Powlowski, lifting his stick before he could get a shot off and sending play back the other way. Riley Bourbonnais was on the scene digging for one last shot at the buzzer and he had the corner picked, but Opladen was equal to the task. And so, Thunder would go to the first intermission with an 11-2 shot margin, enjoying a 1-0 lead.
A few minutes back from the first break, the Thunder powerplay was back in action, but they overstayed their welcome and Bonis was forced to save their bacon with 3 consecutive point-blank saves on Wood, a good while after we were back at even strength. Thunder promptly segued from PP to PK as JT went to the box for an alleged Louganis at the next stop. Out came Vyper to challenge the shooter, making his first save of the game on the PK and then half-way through the kill, JT had company, as Hebs got called for a high-stick. Gundo and Pat joined Vyper for the 45 second 5-on-3 kill before JT's sentence was up and then away went J with a short-handed bid that would also be denied by Opladen. Two minutes later Thunder was assessed a too-many-men penalty and Mike Briganti got the nod to serve. Steve Hebberecht made a nice clear off the glass to bolster this kill and then Lightning made it 4 on 4 as they touched up a delayed penalty of their own with an angry slapshot that banked off the boards into the vacant Thunder net (that's all you're gonna get). With Briganti clearing the box, Thunder was man up, and Mike saw a bit of action on his way back to the bench. Then in the waning moments of Thunder's abbreviated powerplay Eric Gunderson would cash #2, pulling the puck out of the pile and raking it into the gaping right side of the goal after Brandon Cheeseman took a couple of whacks of his own at close range. Was that a flip pass over the back of the net, by Go-Greggy? Way to mix it up! Two down, one to go.
The third period was fairly nondescript, although a few nice plays stood out, like Scotty's block at the beginning which led to a transition the other way. Or Riley's blue-collar efforts to pressure the puck and keep us in the O-Zone. Or Vyper's big block on Powlowski. Or the 2 on 1 break for Pat and Greg that missed to the right, a bit of a Norwood. Dan Miller was on the job in the stands, quickly quashing any inappropriate mention of another SO. Although, the most stressful part of the third and final frame was after Gunda was summoned to serve for falling on the puck. With only a two goal lead this was certainly no slam dunk as the Lightning pulled their goalie to get the 6 on 4 advantage for the final 49 seconds. In the end, Vypes, Hebs, JT, and Greg stood tall in front of Parker as they all worked together to fend off the Lightning's final act of desperation.
The Johnson & Johnson first star of the game goes to the one with the reach, Eric Gunderson, for a pair of goals and a pair of 2 on 1 breakups; second star goes to Dan Vyverberg with 2 Harry's and a solid all-around effort on the backend; third star goes to Josh Opladen with 18 saves for the Lightning, as it could have very easily been a 5-0 game without Josh in net. Shots were 20-13 in Thunder's favor with Bonis netting his 5th shut-out and 15th win on the season. With a third victory over the Lightning behind them, Thunder advances to the Section V Class A title game on Sunday.
The Greece Athena/Odyssey Thunder Hockey Team will return to ESL for their pound of flesh against Fairport in the Section V Class A Final, 5:30pm on Sunday, March 1st @ ESL Sports Centre. Be there or be somewhere else missing out on all the pom poms and circumstance!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment