Lancers’ hockey eliminated by Warriors in district semifinal

“Walsh Jesuit executed well on their long passes,” said Coach John Malloy. “We fell asleep there defensively. We have had trouble scoring goals all year long. We have gotten good pressure but just miss the net or do not get our sticks down. We kept working and got some injuries and tried to fight through them but it just did not go our way.”

The Lancers’ (20-14-2, 5-3-0) title defense season never got going this year, with various players moving in and out of the lineup because of injuries.

Despite Gilmour’s inconsistent play, it rallied in the final weekend of the regular season, recording three straight GLHL victories to force a three-way tie for a the league regular season title to appear in its fourth consecutive Cleveland Cup.

It was a first for the Lancers to experience outdoor postseason play this season, with the district semifinals being hosted in an outdoor rink at First Energy Stadium.

According to the 18th-year coach, it may have been a good idea in theory but the execution did not meet expectations.

“It was just a different surface,” he said. “It’s something we had no input in. If they would have asked me, I would have said never put a game like this down here because it was a meaningful game.”

Aside from the location, injuries had derailed Gilmour’s season from start to finish.

“I think some of it was that we could not get our lines set because of injury,” said Malloy. “We could not get our defense set because of injuries so that made it a little more challenging. I give the kids more credit because they hung in there. It was not like we had a bad schedule. We had a team that could lose at any time because of some of the things that they had to deal with.”

While Gilmour wanted to defend their first state title in school history, the Warriors sought payback after being ousted in a triple-overtime thriller in last year’s district semifinal at the Lancers’ hands.

Gilmour had some momentum in the first period, launching the first wave of shots on net but Warriors’ senior goalkeeper Tavian Parks recorded four saves.

The Lancers attempted multiple breakaways but Walsh Jesuit stayed in front of them.

The Warriors struck first when senior left wing Josh Weiner scored on a breakaway off an assist from senior center Ryan Kersher at 4:54 of the first period, taking the 1-0 advantage.

The Warriors added one more goal in the closing seconds when senior forward Patrick McCarthy collected a rebound off of a blocked shot from Kersher.

Lancers’ senior goalkeeper Evan Underwood tried to collect the puck but McCarthy got his stick there first and buried the shot off assists from Kersher and senior defensemen Ryan Holcomb with only 21.1 seconds remaining in the period.

Malloy said that the second goal simply could not happen, especially near the end of the period.

“It just one of those things,” he said. “Who knows why it happened. It is a play that Evan would normally handle but again we needed to have somebody on McCarthy but we did not and it was a combination of things.”

Although Gilmour outshot the Warriors by a 9-8 margin, Walsh Jesuit held a 2-0 lead because they finished better.

“Early on I thought the play was in our favor,” Malloy said. “In the first period, even before there were any goals, we had three, four or five chances but their goalkeeper played well. We do not do some of the more nuanced things that would help but we had good pressure and I think it was the third shot Walsh Jesuit scored on because of the breakaway so it was frustrating in that regard.

Gilmour quickly trimmed the lead to 2-1 with 8:55 left in the second period when senior forward Rocco Hice rifled a wrist shot into the net from the left shooter’s circle off of an assist from senior forward Brennan Friedman.

The Lancers’ resurgence was short-lived and lost a pair of players to injuries in the second period.

Walsh Jesuit regained the momentum when Weiner scored his second goal, this time when he gobbled up the puck at the crease of the net and fired a shot in the net at the 2:15 mark.

The Lancers could not get many deep looks and their leading scorer, senior left wing Matt Bauman, could not spark the offense.

Malloy credited the Warriors for stifling Bauman with their physical defense.

“Walsh Jesuit was matching lines as well as they could and they were always trying to get a certain defensive set out there with him,” he added. “Matthew was dinged up a little bit already and with them being physical with him, I think it slowed him down a little bit and that was where other guys had to pick it up.”

The injury bug also got to Underwood, who departed after the second period and freshman goalkeeper Caden Gehrke took over the net.

Usually boasting four lines, the Lancers’ depth could only throw two lines on the ice.

“We did not have the same jump,” Malloy acknowledged. “We had been throwing four lines all year and with the injuries, we were going down to two just because of where we were but thought the kids gave the effort.”