Auroraadvocate.com - Icers go 1-2 in first weekend of season

After losing its first two games of the season in the Parma Thanksgiving weekend tournament, the Greenmen ice hockey squad nabbed a 4-1 victory over host Parma.

The team lost to Orange 7-3 and Bay Village 4-2.

Coach John Sheridan was pleased overall with the improvement the team showed throughout the weekend.

"We played better as the tournament went on, and beating Parma should boost our teams confidence since it is a division foe."

In the victory over the Redmen, Josh Sirk opened the scoring with a power play goal less than five minutes into the contest, with assists from Colin MacDonald and Jon Deacon.

Parma knotted the score just over a minute later, then Aaron Jaskiewicz scored his fourth goal of the tournament and the eventual game winner halfway through the first.

Both teams played through a scoreless second period, then Ian Klinger and Rob Cooke tallied in the third for the victory margin.

Klinger, Cooke and Ian MacDonald also had assists in the final period, as the Greenmen rode the strong goaltending of Ronnie Schwartz to their first win of the year.

Schwartz looked sharp in the nets, stopping 22 of 23 Parma shots.

"It always feels good to get that first 'W' of the season under our belts," said Sheridan. "We tried some things that seemed to help. Moving Jon Deacon from defense to offense gave us more punch."

THE TOURNEY started off rocky for Aurora. Against Orange, the locals trailed 1-0 after one period and the game got away in the second as the Lions tallied 4 times.

Aurora's only answer was freshman Colin MacDonald, who scored the team's first goal of the season at the 11-minute mark of the second period.

Orange scored two more times in the third before Jaskiewicz and Ian MacDonald netted goals for AHS. Stephen Angus stopped 23 shots between the pipes, as AHS was handily outshot 30-14.

In Saturday's game against Bay, AHS gave up two goals in the first five minutes of the third period, which turned a 2-2 game into a 4-2 defeat.

Schwartz kept the team in it by stopping 29 shots in the first two periods, but the only offense the team could muster was two unassisted goals by Jaskiewicz.

The Greenmen start regular season action with a Blue North Division game against Kent Roosevelt on Dec. 3 at 7:15 p.m. at the Kent State University Ice Arena.

On Dec. 6 at 7:10 p.m. is a game against Nordonia at Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills.

Sheridan is cautiously optimistic about the season.

"It's going to take a little longer for our players to get the experience that they need," he said. "Kent may be one of the stronger teams in our league, so that will be a good test."