North Canton Routs Lakewood 9-1 in MLK Ice Hockey Tourney

The hockey team came up well short with a 9-1 loss to to conclude play in the MLK Tournament at Ries Ice Rink with an 0-3 record.

But the Rangers, who return to Blue Central Division play at 3 p.m. Saturday against Brooklyn at Quicken Loans Arena, are much the better for playing in the six-team event that winds up Wednesday with its championship game.

"The kids see a faster pace in this tournament and see things first hand what we are trying to teach them," said Lakewood Coach Josh Dress, whose team is in first place in the Blue Central at 6-0 and had won seven straight before the MLK event.

"They learn more about positioning and get the feel for a faster game just by playing against teams in this tournament," said the Ranger coach.

After Hoover (5-11-2) took a 2-1 lead into the locker room after the first period of Monday morning's game, it turned toward the Vikings' favor in the second period. Four different Hoover players scored in a 4-minute stretch to extend the Vikings' lead from 2-1 to 6-1.

Lakewood (10-6) got its only goal from sophomore Chris Richardson on a back-hand shot off a rebound to cut the Hoover lead to 2-1 with 1:18 left in the first period.

But things did not get better for the Rangers, who found themselves short-handed in the second with the loss of freshman forward Zachary Moran with the Rangers trailing 3-1 when he was boarded and was unable to return to play.

Right after Moran's injury with 10:21 left in the second period, Hoover scored three times in the next 70 seconds for the commanding 6-1 edge entering the final 15 minutes.

The third period was more Hoover, with the Vikings getting three more goals including two from Brad Harcourt. He was one of two Vikings with hat tricks, being joined by Mason Koonce, who scored once in each period.

Lakewood junior Alex Hudock stopped 33 Viking shots while Ethan Bishop had 18 saves for North Canton Hoover, which moved to 1-1-1 in the tournament.

The game concluded on a sour note as Hoover's Shane Saba was called for a trip with 38 seconds remaining and added an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a game misconduct to end his day just a bit earlier than other Vikings.

Earlier in the tournament, the Rangers were bested by host Parma, 5-1, with the lone Lakewood goal from Richardson and fell to Canfield, 6-2 with Richardson and sophomore forward Brendan Sheel getting goals for Lakewood.

Outside of losing Moran to an injury, the Rangers were also missing junior forward Pat Hoffert to a shoulder injury and junior defenseman Ben Fitchwell to a family obligation.

"We look to take what we learned from this tournament into the final games of the division," said Dress. "In the past, we have been able to get a push from playing against good teams here and we hope for the same this year. We are 6-0 in the division, but there is a lot of hockey to play, beginning on Saturday at the 'Q' against Brooklyn."

Lakewood follows its Saturday game with Brooklyn with a Sunday affair against Twinsburg at Garfield Heights. The Rangers conclude Blue Division play with their final home game Jan. 29 against West Geauga at Winterhurst and a Feb. 5 game at Euclid.

"If we win the division, we will advance to the Baron Cup," explained Dress. "That will be big for the young team we have which includes no seniors."

Lakewood fans can buy tickets for the Rangers' game at Quicken Loans Arena through the school or Quicken Loans Arena for $11 which includes seeing the Lake Erie Monsters play later that night.