ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- River remains on a roll. On Friday, the Pirates won their fourth consecutive game, defeating the Padua Bruins, 5-2, at Hamilton Ice Arena.
The Hilliard Boulevard Buccaneers got a hat trick from Hayden Weaver, and senior winger has now tallied 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) over the quartet of calendar-year conquests (River's current streak began on Jan. 2).
The Padua game was part of Walsh Jesuit High School's Jesuit Classic. Rocky River will complete its tournament participation on Sunday.
After 10 minutes of scoreless hockey in Friday's matinee, Rocky River (7-5) took the lead when Dillon Bandi lit the lamp on assists from Grayson Hess and Jack Davis. Just moments after the ensuing faceoff at center ice, the Double-R doubled its early lead when Weaver netted a goal on assists from Chris Brej and Danny Asmar. The Pirates toted their twin twine-finders into their locker room as a 2-0 lead when the buzzer sounded the end of the first period.
The second period was a two-goal split, with the Pirates scoring four minutes in (Weaver from Asmar with the Pirates on the penalty kill) and the Bruins scoring four minutes before the second intermission.
When the Sons of Blackbeard took the ice in the third, they were looking to close out their second victory over Padua this winter (the Pirates defeated the Bruins, 5-2, on Dec. 22). Weaver's third of the contest -- at 14:00 of the third -- came on assists by Asmar and Ian Opdycke. Asmar's assist marked his seventh of the four-game win streak. The goal lifted River to a 4-1 lead and all but sealed the deal.
In the endgame minutes, the Pirates filed some insurance paperwork on Danny Asmar's 14th of the season (assisted by Christopher Cogan). In his day job manning the Pirate pipework, Cogan logged 16 saves in facing 18 Padua shots. Padua's second goal came with just 30 seconds remaining in the final stanza.
For the game, Rocky River had 37 shots on goal. The Pirates have now averaged 41.3 shots per game over their last four.
Asmar's goal was a power-play job; River went 1-for-3 with the man advantage while killing each of two Padua attempts.
The Pirate win streak is the program's longest since Jan. 22-Feb. 1 last season when Rocky River won five consecutive games.
by Skip Snow
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