District hockey: Avon cruises past Normandy and straight into a matchup against the four-time defending state champs

BROOKLYN — Avon made it look easy in Tuesday's district tournament opener. The Eagles know their next game will be anything but. The 13th-seeded Eagles jumped on 15th-seeded Normandy with four first-period goals and never looked back in a dominating 8-1 win at the Brooklyn Recreation Center. Next up? Just a little hockey juggernaut known as St. Ignatius on Saturday at high noon. Not only are the Wildcats the top-ranked team in the state and four-time defending state champions, they just happen to have 113 players in their hockey program. "We're just going to try and play our hearts out and give it everything we've got," Avon's Jack Goetz said of Saturday's game. "The goal is to go out there and play a full 45 (minutes)." Of course, before the Eagles could think about tangling with the Wildcats, they first had to dispatch Normandy. The Eagles got a pair of goals from Goetz (one unassisted and one on a Connor Wing assist) and another pair from sophomore Michel Perusek (unassisted and Nick Krasweski assist) while outshooting the Invaders 18-6 in the first 15 minutes. "I thought we were a little sluggish but still were able to score four goals," Avon coach Kyle Botos said. "It's good to get up on a team and hopefully preserve our legs a little for this weekend's game." Avon improved to 13-17 while Normandy ended its season at 20-14-1. "We didn't really know much about them, we just had to come out and play our game and get the job done," said Perusek, who has a team-high 16 goals this year. "We had a little time to recover from the Baron Cup and I think we were mentally prepared to come out to play." Avon kept piling on the goals to start the second period as Collin Barrett scored unassisted at 13:40 and Goetz added his hat trick on the power play off assists from Wing and Ian Dargai at 10:33 of the second period. oetz has 14 goals on the season. The Invaders were finally able to solve Eagles goalie Ben Boka (eight saves) when Justin Pierzchala scored a power-play goal at 5:49 to end the running clock. Normandy got only about three minutes of a regular running clock until Max Summers scored unassisted at 2:31 of the second period for a 7-1 lead. Chris Reitmann capped the scoring with his eighth goal of the year, a short-handed one, to give all four Eagle seniors a point in their first playoff game. "The last three weeks we've been hitting on all cylinders and are a dangerous team, but we also know the reality of the next round is a tall task," Botos said. "There are a lot of reasons that people will tell you you have no chance, but I'll tell you right now we'll give our best effort and play as hard as we can." Contact James Brady at 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. Avon 8, Normandy 1 FIRST PERIOD: (A) Jack Goetz (unassisted), 14:16, (A) Michael Perusek (Nick Krasweski), 10:55, (A) Perusek (unassisted), 7:39, Goetz (Connor Wing). PENALTIES: (N) Zack Waite (2:00 tripping), 8:30, (A) Daniel Zurawski (2:00 elbowing) 7:41. SECOND PERIOD: (A) Collin Barrett (unassisted), 13:40, (A) Goetz (Wing, Ian Dargai), PP, 10:33, (N) Justin Pierzchala (Logan George, Lukas George), PP, 5:49, (A) Max Summers (unassisted), 2:31. PENALTIES: (N) Cody Tintelnot (2:00 cross-check), 11:34, (N) Logan George (2:00 interference), 10:45, (A) Barrett (2:00 cross-check), 6:50. THIRD PERIOD: (A) Chris Reitmann (unassisted), SH, 10:16. PENALTIES: (A) Varun Sripada (2:00 holding), (A) Barrett (equipment violation), 2:20. Normandy&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;1 Avon&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; 4&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;8 Shots on goal: Avon 44 (18-19-7), Normandy 11 (6-3-3). Goalies: Avon: Ben Boka (9 shots, 8 saves), Kyli Warnkin (3 shots, 3 saves). Normandy: Zack Waite (44 shots, 36 saves). Power-play opportunities: Avon 1-3, Normandy 1-4.