The Kenston Bombers hockey team is off to an amazing start this season.
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The Kenston Bombers hockey team is off to an amazing start this season.
In fact, the Bombers came into the Bulldog Winter Classic Dec. 29 with a 9-0-1 record, and left Kent State Ice Arena two days later with four more dominant victories as tournament champs.
Day one, the Bombers defeated the Kent Cyclones, 9-1.
The next day, in the early afternoon, they defeated Olmsted Falls, 8-0. Then just a few hours later, they returned to the ice to defeat the Stow Bulldogs, 7-2.
Kenston’s 3-0 record in pool play propelled them to the championship game of the tournament for a Dec. 31 re-match with the Bulldogs, which they won, 12-2.
“Throughout the whole weekend, we were just keeping our heads up getting pucks, and kept doing the simple stuff Coach tells us to do and it works out,” junior Gavin Rowell said. “Overall, I think we did pretty well as a team this weekend and are happy to bring home the W.”
Added junior Luke Mack, “Coming into the tournament, we knew all the teams. We have played them all before, and we expected the outcome in a few (of the games). We knew Stow was going to be a battle here at the end.
“We battled all week, and it was good.”
But just how dominant were the Bombers over the four tournament games?
Well, they outscored their opponents 36 to 5.
Throughout the tournament, many of the Bombers’ goals were scored by senior Troy Krahe and juniors Mack and Rowell.
Against the Cyclones, Kenston scored nine goals. Krahe and Rowell led Kenston with three goals each against the Cyclones, while Mack added two and J.C. Pustai added one.
Leading the Bombers against Olmsted Falls was Rowell, who had a hat trick with three goals, and Krahe with two. Also scoring goals were Mack, Daniel Wilson and Charlie McBride.
In the final game of pool play, Kenston was led offensively by Rowell (four goals), Krahe (two) and Tommy Moores (one).
Krahe, Mack and Rowell also led the Bombers offensively in the championship game.
In the rematch against the Bulldogs, Rowell had five goals, and Krahe, Mack and Moores had two apiece. McBride also had a goal for the Bombers.
In a post-game interview, Coach Tom Moores talked about the great performances of Krahe, Mack and Rowell throughout the tournament and the season.
“If there is a better line in Cleveland, I haven’t seen it,” he said. “They bring it every night, and they play a lot of minutes.”
Kenston’s defense played well, too, only giving up five goals over four games.
Contributing to the Bombers’ defensive success was freshman goalie Nick Svoboda, who had 69 saves in the first three games alone.
After a short break, the Bombers would return to the ice Jan. 3 to face Elyria Catholic at North Park Ice Arena.
