Edwardsville captures shootout, fifth straight MVCHA Class 2A title
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
EAST ALTON – Edwardsville’s hockey team stared down a challenge at East Alton Ice Arena Tuesday night.
That challenge came from O’Fallon, who had dropped the opening game of the two teams’ best-of-three Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association’s Class 2A Final 9-2 to the Tigers Monday night.
Both teams played a game that had everyone in attendance on the edge of their seats all night – and even the regulation 42 minutes couldn’t decide a winner.
The Tigers finally prevailed over the Panthers to win their fifth straight MVCHA Class 2A premiership – but it didn’t come easy, the matter being decided in a shootout after regulation time, EHS winning the shootout 3-2 and the game 3-2.
“Give them all the credit in the world,” Tiger coach Jason Walker said. “They gave us the game we were expecting; they were battling, they played hard and they played physical and they played all the way to the end. It came down to a shootout. We were getting some opportunities and their goalie (Brendan Johnson) was just outstanding. He played an awesome game.
“You just can’t say enough about the guys. They stuck with it.”
‘It came down to a shootout,” Panther coach Patrick Roy said, “3-2; I couldn’t ask any more from my team. Congrats to Edwardsville, they earned it. (Johnson) played the game of his life.”
There was a sequence in the first period of the game where the Tigers put tremendous pressure on the Panther defense and on Johnson, keeping the puck in the Tiger offensive zone and kept putting shots on goal; every time the Panthers needed a big save, Johnson came up with them and it kept the score 1-0 after Christian Blandina scored just 2:33 into the game for Edwardsville.
“He (Johnson) was ready to go,” Roy said. “We talked about it before the game; play like this is your last game, and he did.”
“Credit to them and to their goalie,” Walker said of the Panthers and Johnson on that first-period sequence. “They cleared out some stuff in front of the net and they got some sticks on our sticks that made it tough.”
It had been quite a while since the Tigers had had a tight game like this one and Walker admitted he wasn’t sure how his team would react. “They stuck with it; it was one of those things, we hadn’t had a game like that in a while, and you’re worried about how the guys would respond, but the guys responded well and they pulled it out.
“The core of this group has played in so many big games over the past few years; this is kind of an anomaly in not playing in those close games and these guys are used to that; the calmness on the bench really helped.”
Edwardsville went into the second period with a 1-0 lead and kept it until there was 4:02 left in the second when Trevor Rieck beat Tiger goalie Mathew Griffin to tie the game. Undaunted, Edwardsville responded 62 seconds later to take the lead back when Tyler Hinterser, off a Tyler Schaeffer assist, scored past Johnson to give the Tigers the lead back through two periods.
The Panthers didn’t take long in responding to Hinterser’s goal, taking 47 seconds in the third period for Matt McLeod to even the game up again at 2-2, and that’s how it stayed the rest of the way, both Johnson and Griffin coming up big in goal when their teams needed them to and send the game to a shootout.
O’Fallon elected to go first in the best-of-three shootout and opened it with a goal from Graham Suddeth, Hinterser responding with a goal to tie it up. Hayden Ourada was turned back by Griffin on his attempt, and Jake Aurileo scored on his attempt to force the Panthers to score to keep the shootout alive. McLeod did just that, and set up Schaeffer with the opportunity to win it – and he beat Johnson to give the Tigers the win and the championship to set off a wild celebration by the Tigers and their supporters.
“It’s been an incredible run (referring to the Tigers’ five-year run as league champions),” Walker said, “with a completely different cast of people; the players; the tradition, the love for this program that the alumni have. It’s been a fun five years and hopefully we can keep it going.”
More like this:
- Most Popular
- Top Stories
- Most Recent
