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Rocks vs Thomas Worthington

02/21/2012, 6:22am (EST)

By Chuck Putnam

Dublin Coffman vs. Thomas Worthington

The Rocks and Cardinals tee it up on Sunday at noon at Our Lady of Habitual Hooking, or the Chiller North for the uninformed. The Cardinals spanked Beavercreek in their initial round game to move forward in the brackets to this rematch with the Rocks. TWHS played a strong game against the Rocks in league competition and handed Dublin a one sided defeat. Both teams have seniors looking to extend their high school playing days by at least one more week with a victory today.

First Period: Dublin sends Zach Briggs, Allen Yi and Michael Bennett out as forwards for the first shift in an attempt to put some bodies on the Cards first line. Worthington features a good combination of size and skills on the first line and it appears as if the Rocks are looking to throw their timing off a bit. This energetic trio resemble drones chasing bad guys in the desert. Each player would lock on a Card with the puck and proceed to put a check on them. Fun for the Rock faithful to watch and a bit disconcerting for the Cardinal crew. Kyle Marcinick warms up his wrist shot at 13:40 and sends one just wide of the net. Marcinick and Kevin Putnam enter the Cardinal zone and play skate and pass back and forth before Kyle puts another shot on net at 11:09. The shot is blocked and the rebound goes all the way to the boards. Putnam tosses one towards the net from the wide angle and while the shot is easily blocked, the rebound heads right to Gunner Gruehl who winds up and tries to crush the one timer past the goalie. The glove save is made, but the Rocks are getting the majority of the shots early on. Caleb Powell fires one up from the blue line and it is ramped up out of play off the goalie stick. We move to just under 9:00 and Kevin Putnam nearly executes the always effective one on four fast break as he enters the Card zone with not a single other Rock jersey over the blue line. Michael Bennett shows that he is going to do more than just bang people as he tosses one in on net from the bleacher side boards that catches the goalie by surprise. He has to stand quickly in the crease to take the floater off his chest and try to grab it with his glove as it rolls down his body. Kyle Burich is tested at the other end and gloves one from the blocker side circle at 5:50. Dublin shows off the art of the small pass when a Rock defender keeps the puck in at the blue line and slides a quick pass to Marcinick in the low slot. Kyle never stops and sends the puck to a waiting Putnam who is positioned on the back door. Putnam hits the high loft wedge shot and the puck kisses the top of the netting to move the Rocks up by one. The Rocks try to build off this momentum and Gunner Gruehl finds Marcinick cruising up ice on the opposite side of the sheet. Gunner makes the pass and Kyle puts another shot on net at 3:12. The Rocks follow the next face off with an interference call and Thomas wastes no time in tying this one up on a hard shot from the blue line at 2:30. Burich appeared to be screened on the shot as it found the far post and banked in. Matt King makes a great hockey play at 1:23 when he anticipates that Worthington will attempt to execute the D to D pass out near center ice. He breaks on the puck before the pass is even released and nearly has the breakaway attempt. One of the Cardinal defenders scrambled to block his path. The period ends with the score tied at one. Surprisingly the Cardinals have a slight shot advantage of 11-9 in the first period.

Second Period: The Rocks go right back to work in the Cardinal zone to begin the second period. Putnam skates behind the net with the puck and looks for outlet passes. The Cardinals are fronting the Rock players to prevent receiving the pass so Putnam curls around the circle and fires a wrist shot from the high slot that is gloved. Thomas called for slashing at 14:02. Dublin controls the face off and gets a quality shot off with Eric Gute firmly stationed in front of the Cardinal goalie. The stop is made and a Cardinal defender cross checks the bejesus out of Gute and puts him down on the ice about six feet away from the crease. The defender keeps railing Gute, who is face down on the ice with the other player on his back, and the officials finally skate in to break it up. In what will become a disturbing pattern, the officials take both players off the ice even though the Cardinal defender looked like Tommy Farkis beating the snot out of Ralphie's brother in “A Christmas Story”. Coach Park is hopping mad and makes his case to the referee. He is pretty much told that he is like that Iranian bomber in Thailand and doesn't have a leg to stand on. The Rocks regain their composure and head back out for the face off. They control the puck and Marcinick sees Putnam all alone in the blocker side circle. He makes his second clutch pass of the game and Putnam puts a bullet between the Cardinal goalie and the near post for his second of the contest at 13:35. The Rocks are up 2-1 and celebrate by taking a penalty. Kyle makes a great save for Dublin on a close range chip shot that he has to rise up and gather about shoulder height. He follows that save up twenty seconds later by gloving a shot from the blue line at 11:16. The Cardinals are running a very effective power play and keeping the puck in the Rock zone while getting off fairly high percentage shots. Putnam shows that he is more than just another pretty face when he absolutely blows up a Cardinal forward who has cut to the middle with the puck and met the speeding Rock forward head on. The line of Matt King, Chris DiBiase and J.T. Latshaw have been running some effective minutes all day long and really click just under the ten minute mark. Latshaw puts a shot on net and DiBiase pastes a Cardinal on the boards as they battle for the rebound. The puck stays deep in the Thomas zone and Latshaw gets off two more shots on this shift. Gunner Gruehl joins the hit parade at 8:35 with a big open ice hit. The “havoc” line of Briggs, Bennett and Yi are back out at the midway point in the period and Bennett puts a hard charge towards the net and fires a nice snap shot on goal that is blocked. The Rocks fire one in from the blue line at 7:06 and while the shot is blocked, the puck is laying untouched in the middle of the crease. DiBiase finally sees the puck as some defenders move and open the lines of sight, but he is just a second slow in getting to the puck as the goalie finally falls on it. Eric Gute is still honked off about the previous call and he is working hard to keep pucks in the zone and advance the puck deep towards the net. Various Rock forwards have chances to bat the bouncing puck netward off Gute's feed. Laurel and Hardy make another questionable call when they whistle a Rock for interference, even though a small, black, hard rubber object was laying at the lads feet when he was drilled. It only takes 8 seconds this time for the Cardinal power play to convert and we are tied up again. Retribution can be a bear and one of the bigger Cardinal players repays Putnam for his assault on their forward earlier in the period as he catches Putnam looking away and plows him over with a full head of steam. Great hit, but he is whistled for the rouging or charging call. No great power play advantage here as Dublin is called for interference at 4:07 and we will have 1:40 of four on four hockey. King, Latshaw and DiBiase try one more time to move the Rocks back in front and they nearly duplicate the earlier sequence of a shot and the puck laying in the crease waiting for the short lift home. Not able to convert again and Thomas Tate follows with a blue line blast at 1:53 that is gloved. There is a moment of silence as Gute and a Thomas player go awkwardly into the boards behind the Rock net and the Cardinal player lays on the ice. He apparently just clipped a wing and he is back in the nest in no time. Time runs out with Kyle covering a puck for another save. Thomas was the aggressor in shots with a lead of 17-11 in the second.

Third Period: DiBiase puts one on net and Matt King attempts to nail the rebound at 13:18. Another solid shift by the “havoc” line of Yi, Bennett and Briggs at 10:30. They are not only disrupting the Cardinal offense, but they are generating scoring chances with their aggressive, banging style. The Cardinals control a face off in the Dublin zone at 10:03 and Kyle makes another big save. Freshman defender Nathan Rusin goes end to end with the puck and circles behind the Cardinal net. His centering pass doesn't find anyone from Dublin and Thomas heads up ice with the puck, for what will be a long stretch in the Rock zone. Dublin finally ices the puck to get a needed line change. The clock is down to 5:16 and the blast brothers are back at it again. The feathers are flying and the game turns on a sneaky spin move and quick, on ice shot off the stick of Kyle Marcinick from the blocker side circle at 4:29. He had his back to the goalie and simply spun and shot in one motion and it found the five hole wide open. Dublin has a lead and needs to find a way to kill 4:29. Play is really getting chippy and a Thomas player is beating Caleb Powell like an orphan on the boards. Once again the dynamic duo take both players off the ice, even though Caleb was quoting Gandhi as he was being railed. Kevin Putnam nearly ices this one with a great move at 2:55 where he puts the puck through the defender's legs, gathers it up behind him and just goes high over the crossbar with his breakaway attempt. Matt King battles hard at 2:34 and gets off a tough angle shot. The Rocks have a mental lapse at 2:15 and take a tripping call. Both Worthington goals have come on the power play, so the last thing you wanted to do was give them that opportunity late in the game. You know that they will also pull the goalie and have a two skater advantage. Putnam has one more chance to put this one away and skates down with only one Card left to beat and that is the goalie. This time he goes over the crossbar off his backhand. Kyle Burich makes a big save at :50 by diving on a loose puck in the crease. Thomas takes the time out to discuss strategy for the final 50 seconds. Chris DiBiase must have been listening to their plan as he intercepts two passes and sends them the length of the ice. It is nearly over and Putnam makes one more attempt at the empty netter and this time the lone defender lays down in front of the net as he shoots. The puck is stopped, but the clock on the wall features more zeros than Bill Gate's checking account. The Rocks pull out the well played contest and hold a slight shot advantage in the final period of 9-7.

Game Summary: This one played out almost exactly as you would expect it to from the previous meeting. A closely fought contest and the outcome not decided until the final buzzer. Both goalies played very well and kept their respective teams in the game. The Rocks win the dubious honor of moving on in the tournament brackets to face Upper Arlington next Saturday at the Ice Haus. The Bears have owned the Rocks so far this year and hold three victories against us. The last one was a tough one to swallow as it went into triple overtime before the Bears scored on a fluke bounce off the back wall. Nice wrinkle adding the checking line to this game and they more than handled their task of disrupting play while they were on the ice.

ROCKS vs Upper Arlington

02/12/2012, 5:56pm (EST)

By Chuck Putnam

Dublin Coffman vs Upper Arlington

The Golden Bears have to leave the cushy confines of the Ice Haus and travel North to the fabulous Ice Works Rink in Worthington to play the Rocks in a first round Blue Jacket Cup game. The true fan experience begins the minute you open the rink doors and are greeted by what seems to smell like deep fried Asian Carp in a panko, ammonia breading. Adding to the atmosphere is the game time temperature of around 36 degrees rink side. The Upper Arlington Golden Bears feature about as many seniors as a Pensacola bingo parlor and they play a very controlled, patient kind of hockey reflecting their many experienced players. Having that many fourth year players also means that the Bears have some serious team size on their roster. Just typing their entire proper name once is already bringing on a fit of irritable vowel syndrome, so for the balance of this story, they will either be UA or the Bears.

First Period: The teams move through their first line changes before the Bears win a face off in the Rock's zone and put one on net. Kyle Burich handles the clean up on this one. Kevin Putnam throws one five hole from the glove side circle that is knocked away with the stick. Chris DiBiase hints of things to come when he shoots one from the top of the glove side circle and it is just high over the crossbar. A poorly handled puck gives the Bears a golden opportunity and Burich stones the UA player with a fine save. Eric Gute battles at the blue line to keep a puck in and then skates towards the net and fires one in at 8:35. The Rocks draw the first whistle of the game at 7:41 for high sticking. The Bears answer with a boarding call of their own just twelve seconds later to negate the power play and give us 1:48 of four on four hockey. Neither team is able to create much offense with the open ice and we move back to five on five. UA makes a long outlet pass from deep in their zone across ice and their forward puts a serious move on a Rocks defender to leave him grasping at air. Once again Burich stands tall and denies the one on one attempt by the Bears. Chris DiBiase pastes a Bear right by their bench, drawing a round of growls. Mark Heneman puts one on net from the glove side circle that is caught. Heneman has been flexing his offensive skills of late with some big goals. We move under one minute and Kyle Burich continues his solid play with another big stop at :47. The Rocks have one more chance late in the period as Gunner Gruehl and Kevin Putnam break into the zone with a defender on each player. Gruehl looks over at Putnam, but elects to put a low shot on net as the pass would have passed through lots of traffic in order to get through. The leg pad save is made and the period expires with no score. The Bears put 9 shots on net compared to 6 for the Shamrocks.

Second Period: The Rocks open with an odd man rush featuring Kyle Marcinick and Gunner Gruehl near the 14:00 mark and Marcinick's touch pass is just in front of the leaning Gruehl. In the course of a game you get the occasional shift that just never looks or feels right. The Rocks exhibit all of the awful characteristics of one of those shifts at 13:06 and the Bears take advantage of the confusion with several shots on net and a final bullet from the high slot that goes top corner for the first score of the evening. They follow with a blue line shot on the next shift that is gloved by Kyle. The rink gets very quiet when Brent Vaughan is attempting a check on the boards and the Bear player sidesteps the hit and Vaughan goes very awkwardly headfirst into the boards. He attempts to get up and immediately falls back to the ice. It is several minutes before Vaughan is helped back to the bench. There did not appear to be any serious effects as he will return to the ice several shifts later. Junior winger Chris Dibiase battles down low for a loose puck at 8:06 and winds up carrying the puck through the crease and stuffing it past the goalie to even this one up at 1-1. The Bears are whistled at 6:16 for a trip and follow that call with a second penalty at 4:47 for covering a puck by a position player. The Rocks will have :42 of five on three hockey. Kevin Putnam goes to work and puts a snap shot on net at 4:30. The initial stop is made, but the hoped for rebound is laying in the crease. The Rocks are unable to knock it across the line. Eric Gute tosses one in from long range at 3:34 that is gloved. Chris DiBiase's huge night continues at 3:31 as he picks up a puck following a face off in the UA zone, takes one shot, gathers up his own rebound and stuffs in his second goal of the contest. The Rocks are up 2-1 and the team seems really pumped as the next shift finds the quick healing Brent Vaughan and J.T. Latshaw moving the puck down low and Latshaw finally getting off a shot that is just wide of the net. There is 1:10 left on the clock and the stripes take a mental breather on the ice. Kevin Putnam is carrying the puck behind the Bear's net and a UA defender pulls his skate out from under him in a blatant trip. He goes down like a Somalian pirate that stood to wave at a Navy Seal. There is no call on the play and the Bears head up ice with the puck. They take a blue line shot at :57 that Burich bats aside with his blocker. The puck is batted about for the next thirty seconds or so before Putnam picks it up center ice and skates in hard, putting a blocker side shot on net. The ensuing rebound is whacked at, but no deal. The period ends with the Rocks holding a 2-1 lead, in spite of being outshot by an 11 to 6 margin in the second. Best period of the year for Chris DiBiase.

Third Period: The play is moving up and down the ice with the Rocks simply icing the puck when the Bears seem to control the zone for any length of time. Dublin is not simply playing defense as Gruehl, Putnam and Marcinick have a strong shift at 10:18 that keeps the puck in the Bear zone and generates some scoring chances. Jason Strine puts a big hit on a Bear at 9:38. The Bears knot this one up at 8:18 on a blue line shot that goes in near side post and it is a whole new ballgame again. Matt King has enjoyed one of his best outings of the year and gathered the assists on the two goals by Chris DiBiase. Those two combine with Mark Heneman for a solid shift around the 6:00 mark that features a perfect centering pass, but the Bears just get a blade on the puck before the one timer can follow. Freshman blue liner Thomas Tate skates into a puck sitting just inside the blue line and cranks up a big slap shot that is on net. DiBiase has positioned himself perfectly for the rebound and the UA goalie makes his biggest save of the evening to cleanly grab this bullet. Tate and one of the bigger Bears get into a small shoving match and the officials move in to break it up. This move is now known as the separation of Lerch and Tate. The clock is down to the final 15 seconds and Putnam takes one final swing at a bouncing puck to try and prevent overtime. No score, but the Bears take a slashing penalty that will carry over into the overtime period. The shot count was even at six apiece in the final period.

First Overtime Period: Kyle Marcinick nearly ends the fans misery at 6:22 with a slap shot that the goalie hits with his blocker and it floats up and behind him. Unfortunately, the puck had enough momentum to float completed over the crossbar instead of settling down behind the goalie into the net. Caleb Powell mauls a Bear at 5:30 right in front of their bench. Thomas Tate tries his hand from out top again at 4:33. The shot is knocked down and there is ample time for someone to handle the rebound, but a line change has left the Rocks with fewer skaters on the ice than desired. Play moves to 2:30 and the hard working trio of King, DiBiase and Heneman are at it again. They work a puck down low and King gets off a shot from the blocker side circle. The first overtime period ends with no score.

Second Overtime Period: They put eight more minutes up on the board and move to center ice again. The cold is taking its toll on the spectators as fingers and toes are turning blue. Jason Strine, Brent Vaughan and J.T. Latshaw try to work some magic from behind the net and one tosses a centering pass out in front of the net. The Bears have seen this trick before and swat it away. The Rocks have a decent opportunity at 5:15 when Gruehl and Putnam are closing in on the net from opposite sides with Gruehl carrying the puck. Gunner puts in on net and the Bear goalie continues to stymie the Rocks. My pen is falling from my tingling digits so there will be less writing from here on. Kyle Burich makes another solid save at 2:00 to keep it alive. This one appears to be ending at 1:28 when Marcinick carries the puck deep and slides a pass to Putnam in the low slot. The defenders converge on him and Putnam sees Gruehl on the backdoor with no one on him. He attempts to simply poke the puck over to Gunner for the potential winner and one Bear defender makes the heads up play to just touch the puck and prevent the final two feet of its journey. That wraps up the scoring chances and the second overtime ends with no score.

Third Overtime Period: You could make snow cones with all the debris that is on the ice and the officials send the teams to their locker rooms for an ice cut. Some of the less hardy fans elect to pack it in and read about this one in the paper the next day. The Bears finally end this one at 4:59 on a weird one. A slap shot from one side of the ice is wide of the net, but it hits the back boards in such a way that it ricochets right back into play in front of the opposite side of the net from the original shot. Most of the players are stationed on the one side of the ice and there is no one at home down low to prevent the lone Bear to gather the rebound up and toss it into the open net for the game winner. I missed the shot as I was running the heater in my car and glueing several toes back on.

Game Summary: The Rocks are collectively shaking their heads on this one as they outshot the Bears by a wide margin of 17-8 during the overtime periods. It seemed as the majority of the good scoring chances belonged to the Rocks, but they were unable to complete the deal. You hate to see Kyle saddled with a loss in this one as he withstood three one on one breakaway attempts and did not give up a goal on any of these. Great efforts by King, DiBiase and several of the other underclassmen in this game as they give the program great hope for the future. The Bears will move on and play the other Dublin team in the tournament when they face the top seeded Celtics on Friday night. The district pairings are out and there is a decent chance that these two teams will meet one more time in the State tournament if the Rocks are able to dispatch the winner of the Thomas Worthington/Beavercreek game and UA wins their first game. Luckily that game will be played on a different sheet of ice, and hopefully with a different outcome.