Roosevelt Icers Advance in State Tournament

After exploding for four unanswered goals in the third period, the Kent Roosevelt Rough Rider hockey team skated to their second victory in district play of the OHSAA state hockey tournament, 6-3 over the Chagrin Falls Tigers on Sunday afternoon at the Kent State University Ice Arena.

Starting the afternoon matinee by allowing Chagrin Falls' Kevin Turk to score a power play goal on an assist from Johnathan Bourisseau within the first three minutes of the game, and allowing a second Tiger's goal by Bourisseau, assisted by Sam Bender, later in the opening period, the Rough Riders found themselves behind 2-0 with just over five minutes remaining to play in the first period.

The Riders countered with an opening period goal by sophomore Dontae Monteymayor with four minutes remaining. Scott Rainey and Tyler Gallagher assisted on the Kent goal.

"It was no time to panic, we know there's a lot of game left," said Roosevelt Coach Ben Barlow while reflecting on his team's early deficit. "Going into the locker room after the first period, we knew we had a game on our hands, which we expected, but there was no panic."

Kent defenseman Jake Schmauch scored the only goal of the second period, tying the game at 2-2, with a slap shot at 7:11 remaining in the period.

Barlow recalled a "game-changing" save offered by Rider goalie Nate Grootegoed in the middle period.

"The score is even, they have a two-on-one that turned into a breakaway, and Nate made an incredible save. It was a game-winning save right there," he said.

Grootegoed made 23 saves on Chagrin Falls' 26 shots in the game.

Chagrin Falls took an early third-period lead on another Bourisseau goal with 13:15 remaining in the game. Tiger forward Mitchell Berry assisted on the effort.

From that point on, it was all Kent Roosevelt.

The four goal onslaught began with senior Bob Danner netting a goal at 12:34 of the period. Freshman Gabe Smith assisted on the tally, tying the game at 3-3.

With just over seven and a half minutes on the clock, senior captain Tom Fisher scored the eventual game winning goal. Line mate Cam Bindus created the scoring chance on a play along the boards and was credited with an assist.

However, the highlight of the third period, and crowd-pleaser, was a play by Montemayor that Barlow described as "the play of the year."

"Dontae back checks harder than ever (on the play), found an extra gear, stopped their guy from shooting, physically take the guy out of the play on a wonderfully executed technique and creates a rebound. The guys on the bench and the ice feed off it; we get the puck, go down to the other end and score," Barlow explained.

The resulting goal was scored by Rainey, assisted by Fisher and Gallagher.

The Danner-Smith duo combined efforts for a second time in the period on the final score of the game, an empty net goal with 58 seconds remaining in the contest.

"We played Rough Rider hockey in the third period. The third period was a really fun period of hockey to coach. Goals aside, the mental focus and the emotional make up on the bench were dynamite," summarized Barlow.

Blue Line Notes:

• The Riders/Tigers game may have been a preview of next year's action as Chagrin Falls will be moving into the White East Division with Kent.

• Roosevelt's next opponent in the OHSAA state tournament is the number one seed, Hunting Valley University School. The game is Saturday, Feb. 25, at 5 p.m. at the Kent State University Ice Arena.