Baron Cup Hockey: Avon Lake shuts down Avon

BROOKLYN — Avon Lake was not going to let history repeat itself after it was upset a couple of weeks ago by Avon in the Eagles MLK Holiday Tournament. On Tuesday night, in the Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League Baron Cup II tournament, the Shoremen got three goals in a 2:23 span early in the second period and never looked back in a 5-1 victory over their rival. Top-seeded Avon Lake (16-6-1) advances to the semifinals back at the Brooklyn Recreation Center at 8 p.m. Thursday against the winner of Olmsted Falls-Strongsville. Avon Lake got things going when Noah Logterman scored about two minutes into the game off a Kooper Nilson assist for a 1-0 lead. The Shoremen defense shut down the Eagles (12-17-1), holding them to six shots on goal in the first and 13 for the game. One of those early shots was a crazy one for Caden Creson, who was just trying to help kill a penalty when he sent the puck from the centerline toward the goal. It bounced the whole way, skipping over Declan Roth's stick to tie the score at 1 with 5:17 left in the period. Avon Lake coach Wade Nilson was not thrilled with the way his team came out in the first 15 minutes and gave it a verbal what-for between periods that clearly woke up the players. "There was a little attitude adjustment between the first and second periods," he said. "We were all clumped together and there were too many guys trying to do things on their own. I talked to them about using all five guys on the ice and we carried that onto the ice in the second period." Ryan Gibel made a long run down the middle of the ice and found Nate LePrevost on the wing for a score to go up 2-1 at 13:32 of the second. Kooper Nilson took a pass from Grady Pellegrini on the left wing 39 seconds later to bump the score to 3-1, and LePrevost scored unassisted at 11:09 to give Avon Lake a commanding 4-1 lead. It had lost to the Eagles 5-4 in the MLK tourney. "We really came out flat in that first period," LePrevost said. "We weren't moving the puck well and we all talked as a team between periods about what we were doing wrong. We came out in that second period and made it happen." If Avon was going to make a run at its rivals to the north, it had to score early in the third period, but the Avon Lake defense extended the frustration, holding the Eagles to a pair of shots on goal in the final 15 minutes. Cole Wallace added a little insurance for the Shoremen with an unassisted goal midway through the period. "They are a great team, and we wanted to get shots to the net, and we were way more successful doing that a couple weeks ago," Eagles coach Jacob Uhas said. "Avon Lake does a great job of getting their sticks and feet in the way when we are trying to get the puck to the net. "Momentum is a huge thing in this game, you have to play a full 45 minutes and that three-minute stretch in the second period really killed us." Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. Avon Lake 5, Avon 1FIRST PERIOD: (AL) Noah Logterman (Kooper Nilson), 13:12, (AV) Caden Creson (unassisted), SH, 5:17. PENALTIES: (AV) Zack Snyder (2:00 tripping), 5:42, (AV) Eric Beese (2:00 tripping), 1:42.SECOND PERIOD: (AL) Nate LePrevost (Ryan Gibel), 13:32, (AL) Nilson (Grady Pellegrini (12:53, 12:53, (AL) LePrevost (unassisted), 11:09. PENALTIES: (AL) Gibel (2:00 unsportsmanlike), 11:09, (AV) Creson (2:00 tripping), 8:33, (AL) Cole Wallace (2:00 roughing), 4:50.THIRD PERIOD: (AL) Wallace (unassisted), 7:39. PENALTIES: (AL) Kollin Nilson (2:00 slashing), 4:31.Avon&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;1Avon Lake&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;5Shots on goal: Avon 13 (6-5-2); Avon Lake 30 (11-12-7). Goalies: Avon: Alex Zurawski (30 shots, 25 saves); Avon Lake: Declan Roth (13 shots, 12 saves). Power-play opportunities: Avon 2-0, Avon Lake 3-0.