High school hockey: Avon opens Baron Cup play with OT win; Elyria Catholic cruises

BROOKLYN — Opening night of the Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League Baron Cup II tournament was a good one for Avon and Elyria Catholic. The ninth-seeded Eagles were pushed to overtime by eighth-seeded Normandy before Landon Pagan scored at 5:11 in the extra period to pull out a 3-2 win. The seventh-seeded Panthers had an easier time with 10th-seeded Stow-Munroe Falls, rolling to a 9-3 win after scoring four times in the opening 15 minutes. Avon (12-16-1) will be right back in action today against top-seeded Avon Lake at 6 p.m. Elyria Catholic (19-8-2) is off until Thursday at 4 p.m. when it faces second-seeded Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy. After a scoreless first period, the Eagles' Carter Free scored twice. The first came at 8:08 of the second period when he chased downthe puck, circled around the net and fired in a backhanded shot. After a Normandy (15-12-2) score by Jacob Nugent just 33 seconds later, Free took a pass from Ty Small behind the net and buried it at 2:29 for a 2-1 lead after two periods. "(Carter) leads by example," Avon coach Jacob Uhas said. "Even when he was a freshman, he was always getting knocked down and getting right back up and hustling. He was not going to be denied tonight." The Eagles were on the defensive starting in the final minute of the second period, committing three penalties over the next nine minutes. The final one cost them when Shane Becher scored a power-play goal for the Invaders with 6:23 left in regulation. Avon goalie Alex Zurawski had 25 saves, including several big stops in the closing minutes to get the game to an extra period. Small and Free set up the game-winner, getting the puck through the crease where Pagan was waiting in front of the net. "This means a lot," Pagan said. "We've been going hard ever since the summer and it feels great to get a win in the Baron Cup. We had a great send down the ice by a defender and my teammates to slide it across the crease and all I had to do was find it." EC had no problem finding the net in the late game, scoring the first four goals to put Stow-Munroe Falls on its heels the rest of the night. Jayden Brown got things going off a Charlie Grimes assist at 12:20 with the first of his three goals. JoJo Jancsura followed with the first of three power-play goals for the Panthers two minutes later and Brown scored again at 7:25 on a Preston Hemlinger assist and Andrew Post scored his 194th career goal with 2:45 left in the first. "We got off to a quick start and we play a lot better when we have a lead," EC coach BJ Basinger said. "We just played this team last week and we had to come from behind to win, so we had a skate around earlier today to work on some passing and I think it really helped us tonight." The Bulldogs (9-18) finally solved Dominic Morris (10 saves) in the second, but it didn't matter as Grimes scored twice and Brown added his third goal. Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. Avon 3, Normandy 2 (OT) FIRST PERIOD: Penalties — (N) Andrew Lang, 9:32 (cross-check) SECOND PERIOD: (A) Carter Free (Landon Pagan), 8:08, (N) Jacob Nugent (unassisted), 7:35, (A) Free (Ty Small), 2:29. Penalties — (N) Dane Galgas (2:00 tripping), 7:04, (A) Zack Snyder (2:00 cross-check), 0:43. THIRD PERIOD: (N) Shane Becher (Jason Nicholson), PP, 6:23. Penalties — (A) Small (2:00 tripping), 13:49, (A) Jon Klimkowski (2:00 interference), 7:32, (N) Cooper Davis (2:00 roughing), 5:22 OVERTIME: (A) Pagan (Small, Free), 5:11. Penalties — None Normandy&emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;— &emsp;&emsp;2 Avon&emsp;&emsp; 0 &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;— &emsp;&emsp;3 Shots on goal: Normandy 27 (7-13-4-3), Avon 32 (14-9-7-2). Goalies: (N) Jason Nicholson (32 shots, 29 saves); (A) Alex Zurawski (27 shots, 25 saves)Power-play opportunities: Normandy 3-1, Avon 3-0. Elyria Catholic 9, Stow–Munroe Falls 3 FIRST PERIOD: (EC) Jayden Brown (Charlie Grimes), 1:20, (EC) JoJo Jancsura (Landon Bean), PP, 10:46, (EC) Brown (Preston Hemlinger), 7:25, (EC) Andrew Post (Brendan Cleary, Brady Basinger), PP, 2:45. Penalties —(S) Liam Schelien (2:00 roughing), 12:16, (EC) Jancsura (2:00 roughing), (S) Lexin Watts SECOND PERIOD: (S) AJ Halsne (Scott Albrecht), 9:38, (EC) Grimes (Jancsura, AJ Schwanenberger), 8:18, (EC) Brown (Hemlinger, Grimes), PP, 6:02, (S) Cam Mescurio (Albrecht, Josh Ferdon), 5:35, (EC) Grimes (Post), 3:01. Penalties — (S) Connor Spangler (2:00 tripping), 6:15, (S) Ahlsne (2:00 interference), (EC) Cleary (2:00 roughing), 1:09, (S) Halsne (2:00 roughing, 10:00 misconduct), 0:34. THIRD PERIOD: (EC) Cleary (Post, Brady Basinger), 6:40, (EC) Grimes (Brown), 4:11, (S) Mescurio (Connor Spangler, Albrecht), 2:44. Penalties — None. Stow&emsp;&emsp; 0&emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp; — &emsp; 3 &emsp;&emsp;Elyria Catholic&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp; 2&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;9 Shots on goal: Stow 13 (4-6-3), Elyria Catholic 42 (15-19-8)Goalies: (S) Seraphina Nyitrey (19 shots, 14 saves); Lucy Napieralski (25 shots, 21 saves); (EC) Dominic Morris (13 shots, 10 saves) Power-play opportunities: Stow 2-0, Elyria Catholic 5-3