Varsity 541

PREP HOCKEY

Ashland repeats as Southern Oregon champ

Skolnik, McLaughlin end Ashland careers with another title

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By MARK VINSON
for the Mail Tribune
The heroes of Ashland High’s second consecutive Southern Oregon League ice hockey championship were several familiar faces and one completely unexpected one.
Casey Skolnik had four points, Josh McLaughlin three and Ian White’s first goal of the season turned out to be the game-winner as the Grizzlies survived a strong challenge from Crater to post a 5-1 victory before a standing room only crowd at The RRRink on Saturday night.
The Grizzlies (17-1-1) have won the league championship in four of the past six seasons. But because not enough schools statewide field teams, there is no state tournament.
“Probably not our best game of the year, but we found our legs midway through the second period and continued through the third,” Ashland first-year coach Tom Harrison said. “We set a goal early in the year to be able to win the championship. This year, we were able to beat Crater four times because of our team-oriented play.”
No single play exemplified that better than White’s game-winning goal. With the score tied 1-1 late in the second period and Ashland’s second line on the ice, Sam Taylor won a faceoff in the Comets’ zone back to Matthias Dean just inside the blue line.
Dean’s slap shot was handled by Crater goalie Lucas Paulsen, but Paulsen allowed the rebound to trickle to his left, where White found the puck and buried it in the back of the net for a 2-1 Ashland lead with 2:09 left in the second.
“Everyone has been excited to see Ian score his first goal,” Harrison said. “It was magical to see the entire bench erupt. He goes to the net, gets that juicy little rebound and jams it home.”
Playing without leading scorer Jake Randol — who was suspended after drawing five penalties in a semifinal win over Churchill — the Comets played with the vibe and heart of a team that believed an upset was within its reach. They kept the puck away from Skolnik and limited Ashland’s chances in front of the net for most of the first two periods.
The Comets (10-8-2) took a 1-0 lead on Cody Martin’s goal 3:36 into the second period and held it until Keegan Healy took a pass from Skolnik in the slot and unloaded a slap shot that tied the game 9:14 into the second — the latest Ashland has scored in any of its 17 wins.
“We were beating them, hands down, the first half of the game,” Crater coach Richard Renfro said. “Fatigue and injuries started to catch up to us. We’re playing short-handed and tired.”
Ashland, meanwhile, seemed a step slow.
“The biggest worry for me was that we just weren’t skating as hard as we have in the past,” said McLaughlin, whose pair of third-period goals sealed the victory. “As soon as we started doing that, we picked up the pace and really put it out of reach.”
If White’s goal opened the floodgates, it was a short-handed tally by Skolnik less than 90 seconds later that took the air out of the Comets. With Dean in the penalty box for charging, Skolnik got a rare 2-on-1 breakaway with McLaughlin against Comets’ defenseman Bryce Crawford.
“That was just us working the magic,” said Skolnik, who also assisted on three goals and finished the season with 54 goals and 93 points in 19 games. “I just came to the back door and he passed it to me and it worked out good.”
Without Randol and his 45 goals in the lineup, the Comets were ill-equipped to mount a comeback. One night after peppering Churchill with 33 shots, Crater managed just 14 against Ashland and was held to its lowest scoring output of the season.
“The first two periods, we were a little sloppy, but then we pulled together and united as a team,” said Ashland goalie Gabe Dean. “I was the happiest I’d be in quite a while.”
The start of the game was delayed for half an hour in order to allow the largest crowd of the season time to purchase tickets and find seats. Both teams seemed to feed off the energy for most of the first two periods.
“This year, it’s bittersweet for me,” said McLaughlin, one of seven Ashland seniors. “I’m so happy that we won because we put in so much effort, so much time and so much work and it paid off. At the same time, I realized when the game ended, this is my last game as a high school hockey player.
“I couldn’t have hoped for a better way, but you kind of wish it never ends.”
Crater 0 1 0 — 1
Ashland 0 3 2 — 5
Second period
C —Martin (Crawford), 3:36
A — Healy (Skolnik), 9:14
A — I. White (M. Dean, Taylor), 12:51
A —Skolnik (McLaughlin, Healy), 14:19 (sh)
Third period
A — McLaughlin (Skolnik), 4:04 (pp)
A — McLaughlin (Skolnik), 13:26
Shots on goals — Crater 14, Ashland 29. Power plays — Crater 0/4, Ashland 1/ 4. Goalies — Crater, Paulsen (29 shots-24 saves), Ashland (G. Dean 14-13).