by Kee On Sports is in need of your support to remain paywall free. You can make a donation to keep paywalls off the site here.
Donate Here via Paypal – Vince.McKee@keeonsports.com
Click here to donate – https://keeonsports.com/donate-now/
Brooklyn, OH – No. 11 seed Strongsville Mustangs took on No. 14 seed North Olmstead Eagles in the first round of the OSHAA Hockey playoffs. An absolute offensive masterclass was displayed by the Mustangs helping them move onto the second round, winning the contest 7-2.
The Mustangs started things off strong with senior Anton Khlibovych scoring a goal just 29 seconds into the contest. Sophomore Eric Dubsky came right back down after the goal by Khlibovych, scoring a goal of his own to put the Mustangs up 2-0 in less than a minute. The offense was clicking for both sides, this time seeing Sophomore Ryan Kubancik getting the Eagles on the board, ultimately making the score 2-1 at the 9:33 mark in the first period.
The Mustangs showed no signs of slowing down, coming back down again to score yet another goal. This time senior Ryan Shostek got in the scoring column and put the Mustangs up 3-1. The Mustangs were having their way on the offensive end late into the period. Dubsky was able to score his second goal and fourth goal of the period for the Mustangs, putting Strongsville up 4-1 going into the second period.
The Mustangs showed no signs of slowing down. They started the second period off with yet another goal, this time being senior Ray Pacl to put the Mustangs up 5-1 just five minutes into the period. Although Strongsville has been dominant offensively and was having their way on defense, the pace of play was very slow and fell into the hands of the Mustangs.
Not much was happening late into the second period. North Olmstead was in a major scoring drought and Strongsville was still controlling the game. However, senior Gavin Kern was able to score a last-second goal for the Mustangs, putting them up 6-1 going into the third period.
Kubancik was able to end the scoring drought for the Eagles just a minute and a half into the third period. This gave him his second goal of the game and made the score 6-2 with Strongsville still on top. It was a very back-and-forth game after the early goal by Kubancik and the physicality was starting to ramp up.
However, North Olmstead wasn’t shooting the puck as much as they should’ve been late due to the great defense by the Mustangs. Kern was able to score his second goal of the game for the Mustangs with three minutes left in the contest. This put Strongsville up 7-2 and the Mustangs were able to play conservatively the rest of the game to end the period.
The player of the game for the Strongsville Mustangs was Gavin Kern with two goals and the player of the game for the North Olmstead Eagles was Ryan Kubancik with two goals. The Strongsville Mustangs will take on the Padua Bruins in the second round of the OSHAA Hockey playoffs on Saturday.
