Hockey: Avon Lake comes alive in third period, beats Kent Roosevelt in Baron Cup II semifinal

BROOKLYN — Better late than never, as far as Avon Lake is concerned. After sleepwalking through two periods, the top-seeded Shoremen scored four times in the final period to claim a 4-2 win over No. 4 Kent Roosevelt in the Baron Cup II semifinals at the John M. Coyne Brooklyn Recreation Center on Thursday night. Avon Lake improved to 19-6 and will face Elyria Catholic on Saturday in the championship game at 3 p.m. after the Panthers beat Olmsted Falls 4-1. The Shoremen will look for their second Baron Cup title, with the first coming in 2018. "We didn't come out with any sense of urgency against a really good team, we just kept making mistakes for two periods," Shoremen coach Wade Nilson said. "We came out in the third and played really well and it made up for being really flat for two periods." The Roughriders controlled both ends of the ice for 30 minutes but could only manage to grab a 1-0 lead when Teddy Maccarone scored a power-play goal at 13:43 of the second period that felt like a five-goal lead with Avon Lake laboring. Whatever went on in the locker room in the second intermission, it worked well as Avon Lake picked up the offensive pressure and got good looks from Evan Wallace and Nate LePrevost that were turned away by Jake Typpo, who finished with 29 saves. Otto Manhke finally got Avon Lake on the board on assists from Ryan Gibel and Brady Gibel at 11:36, and just 51 seconds later, LePrevost put the Shoremen up 2-1 on a pass from Kooper Nilson. Four minutes later, though, Kent's Avery Stauffer slipped a slapshot past Declan Roth to tie things, setting up what would be a fantastic finish for Avon Lake thanks to Ryan Gibel. Gibel took the puck from the defensive end, went up the side board in front of the benches to keep the puck away from a Kent (12-15) defender. He got past the defender, set up and ripped a shot that went five-hole at 2:01 to give the Shoremen the lead for good. "I was kind of surprised that puck went in," Gibel said. "He (Falls defender) gave me a lane along the side board and I was able to use my speed to get around him. I've been trying to score five-hole all season and it found enough room to get through." The Roughriders went with an empty net with just over a minute left, and LePrevost turned a center-ice steal into a goal for the final margin with 24 seconds left. Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. Avon Lake 4, Kent Roosevelt 2 FIRST PERIOD: None. PENALTIES: (AL)Evan Wallace (2:00 interference), 14:04, (K) Mateo Morelos (2:00 elbowing), 7:10, (AL) Cole Gresko (2:00 tripping), 0:45. SECOND PERIOD: (K) Teddy Maccarone (Maxim Ucadze), PP, 13:43. PENALTIES: (K) Brock Catalucci (2:00 tripping), 0:35. THIRD PERIOD: (AL) Otto Manhke (Ryan Gibel, Brady Gibel), 11:36, (AL) Nate LePrevost (Kooper Nilson), 10:45, (K) Avery Stauffer (Christian Fisher), 7:39, (AL) R. Gibel (unassisted), 2:01, (AL) LePrevost (unassisted), EN, 0:24. PENALTIES: None. Kent Roosevelt&emsp;0&emsp;1&emsp;1&emsp;—&emsp;2 Avon Lake&emsp;0&emsp;0&emsp;4&emsp;—&emsp;4 Shots on goal: Kent Roosevelt 26 (8-9-9), Avon Lake 33 (7-12-14). Goalies: Kent Roosevelt: Jake Typpo (32 shots, 29 saves), Avon Lake: Declan Roth (26 shots, 24 saves). Power-play opportunities: Kent Roosevelt 1-2, Avon Lake 0-2.