by The 3 seeded Rocky River Pirates took on the 6 seeded Padua Bruins in the OHSAA Hockey State Tournament quarterfinals: Brooklyn Region. The Bruins pulled of a convincing upset in this one as they won 6-2.
Both teams came out of the gate looking pretty even. Both sides were exchanging time in the other zone. The first big moment came halfway through the period after a Padua tripping, putting the Pirates on the power play.
The Pirates were getting good looks on the man advantage, but Padua’s goalie Joshua Kustra sent them all away. He finished the power play with 6 saves, each one more clutch than the last. Shortly after the kill, the Bruins got to work.
The Bruins made their way into the Pirates zone and Sophomore Adam Coyne found himself with the puck behind the net. He found an open teammate, Marcus Kane, who fired a shot but was pad saved. Luckily for Kane, Coyne had repositioned and slapped the rebound right past the goalie to put the Bruins up 1-0.
Just 1 minute later the Bruins went up on a man advantage due to a Rocky River high stick. Coyne won the faceoff right after the penalty and the puck went right to senior Max Urban-Matejcik, who found sophomore Jacob Rihvalsky completely uncovered. Crawford quickly got it past the goalie and put the Bruins up 2-0.
With just a minute left in the period the Bruins went back on the power play. This time Urban-Matejcik found Coyne for a goal putting the Bruins up 3-0. This goal gave Coyne his 3rd point and 2nd goal of the first period.
The second period began with a Pirates power play, which they desperately needed to take advantage of. Unfortunately for them the Bruins penalty kill was on point in this one. This kill made them 3 for 3 in the game.
Not long after the kill, freshman Liam Crawford won Padua a penalty shot. Crawford was on a breakaway and was tripped, giving him the shot. Needing a stop Pirates goalie Lincoln Greear came up with a huge save to fend off the big chance for the Bruins.
A few minutes of both teams battling went by and the Pirates finally broke through the Bruins defense. Sophomore Nolan Toole came up with a big steal at his own blue line. From there he only had 1 man to beat. He juked around the defender and found the back of the net putting his Pirates on the board.
Rocky River continued to find life as with just over 5 minutes left in the period, Padua was assessed a 5 minute major penalty. This is exactly what the Pirates needed to get them back into the game. However, Padua’s penalty kill was sensational. They first even the odds after a Pirates penalty and got 4 on 4 hockey for 2 minutes. After the Pirates returned their man the Bruins masterfully killed the final 3 minutes of the power play and went into the locker room still up 3-1.
The third period started out with Padua jumping back on the power play 15 seconds in. They capitalized right away as Jacob Rihvalsky scored his 2nd goal of the game. Not long after Padua had their first failed penalty kill as Rocky Rivers Dominic Kovi made the game 5-2
Padua wrapped the game up with a Jacob Rihvalsky empty net hat trick goal. This put the Bruins up 6-2 and that’s where the game would end.
Padua was excellent on the play and the kill in this one. They went 4 for 4 on the play and 4 for 5 on the kill. Goaltender Joshua Kustra was also excellent, ending up with 41 saves and never allowed the Pirates to feel like they could mount a comeback.
