ROCKY RIVER, Ohio – The Hilliard Road Buccaneers have their offense in high gear this season, and on Wednesday night at Hamilton Ice Arena, Pirate goal scorers came though in a big way as Rocky River defeated Holy Name, 7-4.
The Green Wave ousted the Pirates from last year’s postseason (Brooklyn District
Tournament), part of a recent spate of Holy Name wins over River. Holy Name was 4-0-1 over the teams’ five most recent meetings going into last night’s non-conference tilt. So, when Brendan Dickey scored a Green Wave goal 14 seconds into Wednesday’s opening period, it seemed like more of the same was headed Rocky River’s way.
“They’ve had our number,” said Chris Cogan, “and we’ve blown some leads in those recent games. So, when we were down right off the bat, the boys had to get past that and just play their game.”
And River’s game is to find twine and dent it with well-placed discs of vulcanized rubber. With great frequency. On Wednesday it would take the Pirates all of five minutes to tie the game (on a Luke Mallett goal) and then vault into the lead on a Hayden Weaver score. Both River goals came on the power play (where the Maroon & White would go 2-for-3 on the night). The goals were part of a 22-shot opening-period barrage. But Holy Name managed a goal before the end of the first, and the contest went into the second with a level score of 2-2.
Mallett and Weaver were back at it in the second, Mallett on
a Parker McClain assist at 10:45 and Weaver on assists from McClain and Reece
Rochester at 5:31. Their goals lifted River to a 4-2 lead.
That lead had a shelf life of six game minutes: Holy Name
scored a power play goal at 14:32 of the third to get within one. Again, the
high-octane Pirate offense came through.
Almost immediately after the Green Wave’s third goal, Danny Asmar planted River’s fifth. Six minutes later, Luke Mallett netted his third of the game and the Pirate lead stood at 6-3. In a busy period with a combined 30 shots on goal, Holy Name and Rocky River split a pair of goals the rest of the way.
For the game, the Sons of Blackbeard outshot the visitors,
49-30.
Mallett, Weaver (two goals, assist) and McClain (three
assists) each registered three points in the game. Senior goaltender Ethan
Mylett logged 26 saves in the contest. He stopped 17-of-19 shots over the
second and third periods.
Brendan Dickey figured in all four Holy Name goals. Dickey
logged two goals and a pair of assists.
Rocky River (14-5-2) remained unbeaten in 2020 with the victory.
The Pirates have won five straight since the calendar flip to the new year.
Holy Name (11-8-2) had been 6-1-1 over its previous eight games.
Wednesday’s contest marked an opening-round game of the eight-team Cleveland Jesuit
Classic.
The Pirates went into Wednesday’s contest averaging 6.2 goals per game. That mark is a would-be River best since the 2011-12 season when a 27-7 Pirate team averaged 7.2 scores per game.
by Skip Snow
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