High school hockey: Five-goal second period carries Elyria Catholic past Avon

ELYRIA — It was pretty much over in a second. Well, in the second, that is. Elyria Catholic trailed Avon after 15 minutes before scoring five goals in the second period on the way to an 8-4 win in a Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League White South Division game at North Park Recreation on Sunday afternoon. The Panthers (9-8, 3-2 GCHSHL) spread the scoring around as Jayden Brown, Preston Hemlinger, Charlie Grimes and Andrew Post all had a pair of goals. "That second period was great," EC coach BJ Basinger said. "You have to have depth, everyone talks about Post, but we have a lot of players that can put the puck in the net. We were able to capitalize on some odd-man rushes and put together a big period." Post, a junior center, has 144 career goals, leaving him two behind Drew Beck for most in EC history with three regular-season games, the Baron Cup and the postseason still to come. Post will look to break the record Wednesday when EC plays Notre Dame–Cathedral Latin at North Park. It was Post who got things rolling, scoring unassisted to start the game at the 8:00 mark. But the Eagles (4-10, 2-3) controlled the rest of the period as Corey Thompson scored off a Landen Vanuch assist just 21 seconds later, and Jake Zurawski found the net with 2:25 left in the period for a 2-1 lead. The lead didn't last long, however. Post scored his second unassisted goal at 12:52 to tie things up and spark EC's scoring barrage. "Our scoring is all spread out and I know anyone on my line (Brown and Grimes) can put the puck in the net when needed," Post said. "You can see how this team has grown not just relying on me to score. It's been a great transition and we're playing pretty good hockey." Brown put the Panthers on top for good at 9:35 on a JoJo Jancsura assist. Hemlinger then went to the upper 90 at 4:35 on assists from Jancsura and AJ Schwanenberger and the five-goal blitz was completed on back-to-back goals by Grimes in the final 2:29 of the period. "We were hanging our heads a little after that first period, but we came out with a lot of confidence and got it going after burying that first goal," Grimes said. "It really could be anyone scoring right now. We have a lot of faith in our first and second lines to put the puck in the net." Avon settled down after the second period, but it was too little, too late. Nick Thompson scored off assists by Zurawski and Jon Kilmkowski just 20 seconds into the third and Justin Tekauec scored at 9:19, but those were offset by the second goals from Brown and Hemlinger. "We preach all the time about playing a full 45 minutes, playing hard shifts 45 seconds at a time and we did that for two periods tonight," Eagles first-year coach Jacob Uhas said. "When you start putting good shifts together, you get a good game, but we just couldn't do that in the second period." Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. Elyria Catholic 8, Avon 4 FIRST PERIOD: (EC) Andrew Post (unassisted), 8:00, (A) Corey Thompson (Landen Vanuch, Jon Klimkowski, 7:39, (A) Jake Zurawski (Justin Tekaure, Eric Beese), 2:25. PENALTIES — (A) Zack Snyder (2:00 crosscheck), 4:48. SECOND PERIOD: (EC) Post (unassisted), 12:52, (EC) Jayden Brown (JoJo Jancsura), 9:35, (EC) Preston Hemlinger (Jancusra, AJ Schwanenberger)m 4:35, (EC) Charlie Grimes (Brown, Jancsura), 2:29, (EC) Grimes (Post, Hemlinger) 1:45. PENALTIES— (A) Dylan Gutz (2:00 tripping), 11:44, (EC) Post (2:00 tripping), 8:36. THIRD PERIOD: (A) Nick Thompson (Jon Klimkowski, Zurawski), 14:40, (EC) Brown (Post) 14:16, (A) Tekaure (Zurawski, Beese), 9:19, (EC) Hemlinger (Post), 3:10. PENALTIES — (A) Grant Petrucelli (2:00 elbowing), 7:32, (A) C. Thompson (2:00 roughing), 2:39, (EC) Grimes (2:00 roughing), 2:39. Avon&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; &emsp;2&emsp;0&emsp;2&emsp;—&emsp;4 Elyria Catholic&emsp; 1&emsp;5&emsp;2&emsp;—&emsp;8 SHOTS ON GOAL: Avon 29 (11-8-10), Elyria Catholic 30 (9-13-8) GOALIES: (A) Alex Zurawski (30 shots, 22 saves); (EC) Dominic Morris (28 shots, 24 saves), Cadence Kyser (1 shot, 1 save) POWER-PLAY OPPORTUNITIES: Avon 0-1, Elyria Catholic 0-3