by ROCKY RIVER, OHIO – The Pirates controlled their home ice and won easily 7-2 over the Olmsted Falls Bulldogs tonight in the nightcap of day one of the Tim Alexander Memorial Tournament. The Pirates dominated the puck early and often and the Bulldogs fought hard, but dug a hole they couldn’t climb out of.
After Olmsted Falls killed a penalty early in the first, the Pirates slowly started to take control with a dominant first period. Logan Fortune got the scoring started at the 7:33 mark of the period off a perfectly placed pass from Luke Mallett and James Byall. Moments later it was Chris Brej making it 2-0 Pirates.
Olmsted Falls had a power play chance but couldn’t convert and the period would end 2-0 Pirates. For the Bulldogs, it was actually a very impressive effort from their goaltender Nathan Chandler who saved 15 of 17 shots winged at him in the 15-minute period.
Rocky River would bust through and put the game out of reach for good with a massive second period of scoring. They would post five goals in all in a flurry of scoring! They got another goal from Logan Fortune, along with goals from James Byall, Trey Calderwood, Dillion Bandi and a power play goal by Aiden Dempsey.
The Pirates shot 18 of 23 in the period at a wicked pace that saw them shoot 7 of 40 to start the game. For basketball that isn’t very good, but when the game is played on ice, that is incredible! The 33 saves by Chandler is also very impressive to stand up to that relentless pressure.
Olmsted Falls truly showed the heart and fight of a Bulldog as they didn’t roll over and play dead in the third period. In fact, it was quite the opposite as they came out of the locker room like a house on fire.
Scoring in the opening moments was Colin Wilson on a tremendous breakaway that allowed him to slide one past Ethan Mylett to prevent the shutout.
From there it looked like the Bulldogs may strike again as they received 3 consecutive power plays. They couldn’t score on any of them as each was about 3 minutes apart. Eventually they would get another goal and ironically enough it would come shorthanded by Noah Voeller.
The game would end 7-2 and cap off a great day of hockey action for a tremendous cause. Earlier in the day it was Solon over Avon Lake 4-2, and Mentor over Avon 6-3.
