NDCL hockey battled until the final seconds against the Orange Lions Dec. 16 at Mentor Ice Arena. However, Orange narrowly defeated NDCL by a final score of 4-3.
NDCL hockey battled until the final seconds against the Orange Lions Dec. 16 at Mentor Ice Arena. However, Orange narrowly defeated NDCL by a final score of 4-3.
NDCL took an early 1-0 first period lead, but Orange quickly scored to tie the game at 1-1. Orange then scored twice in the second period to take a two-goal advantage over NDCL heading into the third.
Although NDCL showed great resilience, Orange was able to hold off the Lions’ comeback attempt with a third-period goal of their own.
After the game, senior Robbie Moore and juniors Bryce Golling and Luke Miller talked about their performance against Orange.
In particular, Moore talked about overcoming a slow start and providing great effort until the final buzzer sounded.
“Pretty good game,” Moore said. “I thought we were a little slow in the first, but we picked it up.
“I don’t think we played that bad tonight. Close ending — we outshot them, we played good. I thought it was a good game.”
Added Miller, “We tried until the end, but we came up short. If we played the entire game like the third, I think we’d have had them, but we didn’t.”
Golling mentioned that the team is low on numbers, making it difficult to overcome fatigue, as NDCL is not able to have as many line changes to give players rest.
“We really put in all of our effort, but with the size of our team, we can only go for so long,” Golling said. “I think we all put in 101 percent, and in the end we lost, but it’s OK.”
Despite not getting much rest throughout the game, Moore, Golling and Miller all played well and each scored a goal.
Moore scored first to give NDCL a 1-0 lead with 9:32 left in the first period.
On his goal, Moore said he came out of the penalty box, joined in on the attack, and was able to knock in a deflection: “I got out of the box and I joined the rush, and I think it was Ethan Emery (who) took a shot on net and it (the puck) was sitting there, and I buried it on my backhand.”
After Moore scored for NDCL, Orange got two second-period goals to make the score 3-1 heading into the final period.
Early in the third, Golling scored to bring NDCL within one goal, 3-2, with 11:53 remaining.
“Charlie Johnson went in behind the net to try to get the wrap around, but it hit the post, bounced off, and the goalie dove the wrong way from Charlie’s original shot, so I just tipped it in,” Golling said.
Then Orange found the net with 9:46 remaining to take a 4-2 lead.
Although down by two goals with under 10 minutes to play, NDCL was resilient until the end.
In fact, with seven seconds left in the game, Miller scored to make it 4-3.
“Seven seconds left, just trying to do anything you can at the end, and one (the puck) came out to me fortunately and I hit it in,” Miller said.
The Lions had a chance to score in the final seven seconds, but their shot on goal was saved by the Orange goalie.
NDCL is now 2-2 in its last four games. However, over the last four games, the Lions have outscored their opponents, 23-9.
Their next contest on the ice will be Dec. 23 hosting Lakewood at the Mentor Ice Arena.
