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EAST ALTON – Anytime a hockey team can score a goal while short-handed, it can often give said team a huge lift.
Short-handed goals helped give Edwardsville a lift in their Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association Class 2A Final opener against O'Fallon at East Alton Ice Arena Monday night.
In fact, the Tigers scored their first three goals short-handed on their way to a 9-2 win over the Panthers to take a 1-0 series lead in the best-of-three championship.
The win put EHS one game away from fifth straight league title; Game 2 of the series is set for 7:15 p.m. Tuesday at East Alton, with a third game (if needed) set for 8:45 p.m. Thursday at East Alton.
The Tigers took a number of penalties against the Panthers – leading to the three straight shorties to open the game – but Tiger coach Jason Walker knows his team can't afford to be in the penalty box for a good amount of time in Game 2. “We knew the game plan for them would be to be physical against us; we've played them a few times this year and they've been that way,” Walker said. “Too many penalties in the first period, a couple of them could have gone either way, a couple of them, we know, we've got to correct, but it was nice to kill them, but get the short-handed goals.
“It really changed the game. Anytime you can create that momentum, get a goal off their power play, those are game-changers. Those two guys, the Tylers (Hinterser and Schaeffer), they just had a great game.”
That they did; Schaeffer scored twice and Hinterser scored three times on the night to give the Tigers a lift. But Tiger goalie Matthew Griffin played a big role in the win as well; he had 27 saves on 29 Panther shots, with the Panthers putting some pressure on him when they had the man advantage.
“He (Griffin) played great tonight,” Walker said. “He controlled is rebounds; we had a lot of plays where we weren't doing the best job of getting those second opportunities getting cleared away and he was there to make those saves. He was outstanding tonight.”
Other Tiger goals came from Stanley Lucas, Sam Brandstedt, Jake Aurelio and Lucas Tucker; both Panther goals came from Cooper Barnhill. The Tigers had 40 shots on goal in the game.
“We've been in this situation a lot the last few years,” Walker said about the prospect of the Tigers closing out the series Tuesday. “The guys know how difficult it is to close a team out and it's going to be a completely different game tomorrow.”
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