Westerville takes title with triple-OT win over PRPC

As seen in ThisWeek News
Thursday, February 24, 2005

JEFF HUNT
ThisWeek Staff Writer

Tony Franco scored what proved to be the most significant goal of his career as Westerville upset two-time defending champion and top-seeded Pickerington-Reynoldsburg-Pataskala-Canal Winchester 4-3 in triple-overtime last Monday to win the fourth Greater Columbus High School Club Hockey League Blue Jackets Cup in front of a standing room-only crowd in the CoreComm Ice Haus.

Those in attendance -- who had been on their feet since PRPC's Anthony Kantor tied the game at 3 with 4 minutes, 35 seconds left in regulation -- came alive when Franco stole the puck at the PRPC blue line and skated in on Ice Prowler goaltender Miles McGrew all alone.

Franco flipped the puck over McGrew's glove hand and into the net with 2:41 left in the 4-on-4. Sticks, helmets and gloves then littered the ice as the second-seeded Warcats celebrated.

"I saw (the defenseman's) back turn to the puck, I poked the puck and saw the corner (of the net) the whole way down," said Franco, the game MVP. "It was amazing. I went for the glove side in the top corner. I knew his glove was low and I thought I could put it over his shoulder."

Coach Bryan Larrison guided the program to its first postseason league championship in his first season. The Warcats had advanced to the title game on two other occasions, losing to Dublin in 2001 in the league tournament and to Athens in the inaugural Cup title game in 2002.

"It's huge," said Larrison, whose team improved to 25-6-2 overall. "They've been disappointed the last few seasons. To come out here and work as hard as they did is phenomenal, especially for the seniors. They've dug in all year and are good leaders."

PRPC third-year coach Marty Laroche, whose team forced the second championship game last Monday by beating Westerville 5-2 last Sunday at Chiller North, said the game was not won or lost necessarily by any certain aspect.

"It was just one of those things that hockey is a funny game and I've been around long enough to know sometimes it comes down to bounces and that's what it was," said Laroche, whose team dropped to 26-7. "We were fortunate to have the bounces (last Sunday) and they had them here (last Monday).

"The hardest part of losing in triple-overtime is having to bounce back from it. The old clichÈ is that there's really not a loser in a game like this."

Both teams, along with Athens and Olentangy, will participate in the inaugural Buckeye Cup, the state club hockey championship.

Westerville took a 2-0 first-period lead on goals by Sean Hundley and Reston Ashley, but PRPC -- which won the regular-season championship with 42 points (21-3) to hold off the Warcats (19-3-2, 40) -- tied the it at 2 with 1:52 gone in the third period on a goal by Brandon Goettel.

Westerville went up 3-2 on Ryan Krieger's seventh tournament goal with 12:40 to play in regulation before Kantor tied it.

"I think winning the first game against them (3-1 in the winners' bracket final last Friday) set the tone for us," Larrison said. "But they then played (at 7 a.m. last Sunday, beating Olentangy 4-2 in the losers' bracket final) and it was good (for them) to come out and get a skate in, so we came out flat-footed and gave up four goals."

In the initial championship game last Sunday, the teams played to a scoreless tie at the end of the first period, but PRPC scored twice in a two-minute span of the second period. The Prowlers added two more goals late in that period before it turned heated in the latter stages. A Westerville assistant and Franco both earned game-misconduct penalties.

"We came in the locker room (last Monday) prepared and executed," Larrison said.

"We came out flat the first game (last Sunday) and they outworked us and laid the body to us," Franco added. "We took a bunch of penalties. We just said (last Monday) we had to come prepared and focused and ready to go. We weren't jittery like the last game (last Sunday)."

The teams played seven times, including four times in the regular season as each team won two games. Westerville took two of three in the postseason.

"This was our game 7," Laroche said. "My hat's off to Westerville. They're a good team and they deserve what they got.

PRPC beat Olentangy 7-6 in the Cup final last year as Brian Kaye scored with 15.1 seconds left in regulation.

The Braves nearly made a return to the title round, but fell 4-2 last Sunday to PRPC in the losers' bracket final.

Olentangy finished the tournament 2-2, as did Athens. Newark picked up a 5-4 win over Hilliard/Southwest in the losers' bracket to go 1-2. Hilliard/Southwest and Northeast each went 0-2.

BUCKEYE CUP -- The 12-team event will be held March 4-6 at Center Ice Complex in Canton and Alice Noble Ice Arena in Wooster. All four of the GCHSCHL teams open the tournament March 4.