Following a tough and hard fought 4-1 loss to Southlake Carroll on Jan. 13, the Jesuit varsity hockey team, last Thursday, January 20, looked to pick up a victory over Flower Mound.
With a short practice week because of the MLK weekend, the Rangers relied more on mental focus to prepare for what was a must-win game. With leading scorers Hayden Meshell ’13, Nick Alexander ’13, and John Leflore ’13 out of the lineup because of illness, the depleted Rangers would have to play with a little more motivation to pick up a win. The Rangers wasted no time getting on the board with an early first period goal by sophomore Brennan Steele (assists: Alex Mersch ’13, Bryce Derry ’11). Not long after, senior Blake Balda buried a shot from the slot (assist: Connor Crumblish ’11) and put the Rangers up 2-0. Hungry from his last tally, Balda scored again only five minutes later (assist: Garrett Finney ’12) to give Jesuit a commanding 3-0 lead which they would take into the intermission. All three first period goals were scored by players crashing hard to the net and picking up the rebounds and loose pucks in front. With a strong 3-0 lead going into the second, Jesuit kept a solid defensive mindset and played good fundamental hockey. A scoreless second period kept the score 3-0, and a depleted Jesuit team would have to grind it out in the third to ensure the win. An early Flower Mound penalty in the third period led to a Ranger power play where senior Connor Crumblish capitalized (assists: Blake Balda, Jimmy Graass ’12) to put Jesuit up 4-0. From that point on the Rangers were in full command of the ice, and Flower Mound could do nothing to create any type of offense. Flower Mound was held to a mere two third period shots and did not get close to scoring on a focused Brenden Cain ’12. The final score was 4-0, and Cain earned his first shutout of the season. The Rangers outshot Flower Mound 19-12 in what was obviously a defensive minded game. In the locker room, Coach Mark Campbell reflected on the game by saying, “That was one of those motivational wins you build on, and we need to use this one to start a roll going down the home stretch of the season.” With the playoffs around the corner in March, the Rangers need to put some late-season wins together to pressure Coppell and Frisco for the 5th and 6th seeds. The next opponent is 4th place Allen on Thursday, January 27 at the Dr. Pepper StarCenter in Farmers Branch. Directions to the rink can be found on the hockey page on the Jesuit website: http://www.jesuitcp.org/Page.aspx?pid=624. Come out and support your varsity Jesuit hockey team this week against Allen.
