Redemption is always nice when you know you have a rematch lurking. That’s the case for the Nordonia ice hockey team when it comes to league play.
In a huge battle of unbeatens in the Blue South Division of the Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League at Gilmour Ice Arena in Gates Mills, Nordonia dropped a tough 4-3 decision to Bay two Sundays ago.
The Knights (8-6) fell to 5-1 in the Blue South while Bay moved to 6-0.
“I told the kids this is only one game, and we still control our destiny because we get to play Bay again (Jan 22 at Winterhurst),” saod veteran Knight head coach Rich Cinalli.
Cinalli stressed to his squad, “Keep your heads up and keep working hard. We just need to clean up our penalties and we will be fine.”
Nordonia excelled in a defensive-laden first period. The Knights actually controlled possession, but just couldn’t dent the nets against Rocket goalie Nik Wassmer (16 saves). It was a scoreless 0-0 battle.
“We came out strong and out shot Bay,” noted Cinalli. “Both goalies played well and both teams played good, however, I felt we controlled a lot of puck possession in this period.”
Knight senior goalie Kevin Waite also had his moments of strength with 16 total saves.
“The second period got away from us a bit and we took too many penalties,” emphasized Cinalli.
Second period ended with Bay up 4-2.
After a power play goal gave Bay a 3-2 lead in the second period, Rocket standout Tommy Kirk netted his second goal for Bay to push the score to 4-2 with 5:00 left in the second stanza.
Promising sophomore Noah Vega scored Nordonia’s first goal, assisted by senior Daniel Kimpton. Vega then struck again with an unassisted score.
“Bay out shot us due to penalties,” stressed Cinalli, of that second period.
Youthful Nordonia gained sound footing again in the third period, negating the penalties, playing strong defense, and still maintaining some possession.
The third Knight tally was scored by freshman Dominic Nanne as the puck sailed past Wassmer, a veteran goalie. Assists came from juniors Jacob Waite and Frankie Costello.
“We got back to playing well, passing the puck and only one penalty,” noted Cinalli, prior to the Parma Marty Kaczmarek Tournament Jan. 14-16. “The shots were even in the third period.”
Despite having to sit in the second period due to penalties, Vega stood out.
“Noah had a very strong game despite the fact that I lost him for 12 minutes of the second period due to penalties,” pointed out Cinalli. “This is what hurt us in the second period. I only have two centers so people were playing multiple positions that they were not necessarily use to playing.”
Bay (7-2-1) also had goals from Henry Sjoberg and Danny Surdy.
