EAST ALTON - Senior Justin Harper scored twice as the Edwardsville High Mid-States Club Hockey Association team scored four times in the first period, the first two goals coming in a 24-second span, as the Tigers defeated Parkway West 6-1 Thursday night in a Suburban Division game at East Alton Ice Arena.
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The Tigers had control of the game from start to finish, not allowing a shot until early in the second period and eventually outshooting the Longhorns, who came in undefeated at 4-0-0, by a 57-7 margin in a dominating performance.
"We played really well," said Edwardsville head coach Jason Walker. "Like we've talked about before, we've been getting off to good starts; right off the start tonight, we put together some really, really good shifts. These guys are hungry, they're getting better every game, and starting to get some confidence, and that showed tonight."
The Tigers not only jumped out to the 4-0 lead in the first period, but outshot West 19-0.
"That's just because of the way we control the puck," Walker said, "and that's what we talk about all the time, is just making sure we're managing, making good decisions with the puck. You know, they have two of the leading scorers in our league, and we held them pretty quiet tonight because of the way we handled the puck, especially in the first period. We did a very good job of that."
The two quick goals in the first period, scored before five minutes had elapsed, set the tone for the game quickly, and it was almost all Tigers after that.
"Yeah, and like I said, the starts have been good," Walker said, "and these guys feed off that. They feed off the energy of those starts, and so far, so good."
It was very much a team effort, and Walker felt that everyone made a positive contribution to the win.
"We were just talking about it," Walker said. "We haven't had a time to really think about and look at things, but just our initial opinion off the ice was everybody had a plus game, all the way down the lineup, all 18 guys tonight had just really good games. Whether they were on the scoresheet or not, they played really, really well."
The Tigers were playing without Will Schuster and Sam Gibbons on the night, due to injury, but it was a time for the team's depth to show. And show it did.
"We've had a lot of guys on this team contributing," Walker said. "A lot of guys have stepped up in their absence, and the guys we've had out in the past. It's a good mix of guys, it's a good mix of young and veteran players."
And even after the issue had been decided, Edwardsville kept playing hard, a very encouraging sign for the team indeed.
"Yeah, we talk about it all the time," Walker said, "not to play to the scoreboard whether we're up or down. It's just playing the right way, and making sure we win our shifts, and I think the guys had that mindset tonight, just shift in and shift out, they were out there trying to make sure that their shift was a positive shift, and these guys worked hard. It was a good game from the start."
The two teams went through a feeling out process at first, but at 2:47, the Longhorns' Jakeb Gould was called for interference, and on the ensuing power play, the Tigers took advantage. Parker Terch took a pass from Collin Salter and scored at 4:19 to put the Tigers up 1-0, with Aiden Stevens also receiving an assist on the play. Then at 4:43, Harper broke in after taking a pass from Mattie Norton and beat Longhorn goalie Andrew Meek to the far post to give Edwardsville a quick 2-0 lead. Poor clearing by West led to the third Tigers goal, scored by Mark Tucker when he picked off a clearing pass and scored unassisted in the slot at 6:10 to make it 3-0, Edwardsville. Harper then scored his second of the period, assisted by Cam Gillen and Trevor Laub, at 8:47 to give Edwardsville a 4-0 lead.
The Tiger defense didn't give the Longhorns much space in their zone when they had the puck, giving goalie Jonas Akeman good protection and not allowing a shot on goal in the first period. The closest that West came to a shot was one with 1:50 left that dinged off the outside of the post, as Edwardsville took their 4-0 lead into the second period.
The Longhorns got a power-play goal to start the second period, with Nathan Meek scoring at 1:54, assisted by David Talbot and Thomas Nickell with Ethan Bogner off for cross-checking, cutting the lead to 4-1. The Tigers got that goal back at 5:03, with Carter Zimmer scoring from Salter and Tucker to make it 5-1 after the second period. The Tigers did have some good chances during the later stages of the period, but Meek came up with some good saves to keep Edwardsville at bay, as did Akeman on the opposite end.
The only goal of the third period came at 2:48, when Gabe Noll rifled a loose puck home from close in to make the 6-1 final. Akeman faced only one shot in the period, which was easily saved by him, as the Tiger defense totally shut down the Longhorns, and also having some great chances of their own, but couldn't score as Edwardsville went on to the win.
The Tigers are now 4-1-1, having won their last four games, and are unbeaten in five of their first six games of the season after dropping their season opener to St. Louis U. High. Walker couldn't be any happier with his team's start.
"Yeah, just got to keep it going," Walker said with a smile. "Gotta keep it going. Good start, but let's keep rolling from here."
Edwardsville plays another divisional game on Monday against Parkway South at the Chesterfield Sports Complex in an 8:40 p.m. face-off.
"That'll be an opponent we haven't seen in a few years," Walker said, "so we'll be ready for it."
