Rangers did it again! Lewis-Palmer captures hockey title in overtime over Ralston Valley.  (02/27/10)

by MARTY CESARIO

The last one was thrilling, but this one was... if not legendary, epic, heroic... it was as close as a sporting event can get. Might even be able to get slick and call it... Monumental?! A mere fifteen hours after Kyle Lachner's rebound completed their comeback in overtime in the semifinals, the Rangers repeated the feat with another cardiac clincher as Kyle Lee put one through a pile of players and past the goaltender. Lewis-Palmer has won Colorado's hockey championship with a 3-2 overtime victory over a stunned but undeniably great Ralston Valley club.

Just as they did in their Frozen Four game with Cheyenne Mountain, the Rangers were handled fairly easily in the opening period. Forechecking and rapid fire at the net was a game plan Ralston Valley chose well and executed even better. Mustangs forward, Dean McGaughey, was a beast with the body checks in the neutral zone and in the Rangers' end while Scott Linden and Dillon Taylor were stout in setting camp in front of L-P goalie, Brent Schwarz. Ralston Valley was dominating with puck possession and zone infiltration. Shots on goal: 12 to 1 in the Mustangs' favor. And that lone shot from Lewis-Palmer came from center ice when a Ranger almost caught 
the Ralston goaltender cheating out in anticipation of a long dump for a line change. 

Unlike Ralston Valley, who could rotate three productive lines and two pairs of disciplined and durable defenseman, a key weakness for the Rangers was their lack of depth. Thus, the obvious moments of being out-worked to the puck. But L-P did have a killer first line of forwards and, despite being outplayed and outshot, it was the Rangers who scored first with that top line creating the opportunity. With sweet stick-handling and fancy passing, first-liners Kyle Lee and Justin Brame recorded assists on defenseman Josh Cronk's re-delivery that gave the Rangers a surprising 1-0 lead at 4:43 in the second period. (L-P was being outshot 22-4 by the end of the second period.) About twenty seconds later though, the Mustangs delivered a quick answer as Mitch Pijanowski blasted one through to even the score.  

Aside from that one lapse in allowing a rebound goal, Ralston played like soon-to-be champs throughout most of the game and well into the third period. Their forechecking continued to haunt their opponents, their defenseman -- especially the strong and steady, Vincent Ditirro -- smothered all desperate one-on-one rushes, and Coach Jon McKibbon continued to send four at-a-time on the attack in the offensive zone. When the Mustangs finally solved Schwarz a second time with a Kyle Bennett power play put-back, it seemed like Ralston Valley got enough of what they needed to finish the job. 

Key moment in the third period: After being taken down to the ice during another well-covered, single man rush, Lachner let his frustrations rule him and went after one of the Mustangs. Gloves went down. Help arrived. Not much happened other than a rare chance to see a few guys without their helmets. The referees issued fighting majors to Lachner and McGaughey. Because less than three minutes remained on the clock, both were escorted off the ice. Most critically, the break in action seemed to allow an unexpected rest for the exhausted Rangers. And it jacked up their fans, too. With about seventy seconds to go in the game, a pinching L-P defenseman returned a rebound into the net. Despite a shot deficit now at 32-7, Brandon Roseboro had tied the game, 2-2, at 13:51. Un-freakin-buh-lievable! And guess who had the momentum now? You already know.

The Rangers received even more help when they were awarded a power play early in the overtime period. Well aware they had to attack while they were hot and the hockey gods were offering, L-P let the puck fly and sent everybody to the net. In a wild scramble at the Ralston crease, the puck fell to Lee's forehand and Kyle drilled the game winner. Defying statistics and logic, the kids from Monument seized their school's first-ever state hockey championship!            

Some cool moments that occurred in-and-around the post-game celebration: The vision of Coach Steve Fillo doing interviews in tears was a soul-check for anybody in the rink. It's been well-documented that his son, Stevie, a former player, lost his life in an auto accident this past August. Each Ranger had Stevie's #11 on the shoulder of his sweater while hoisting the title trophy. A very... very cool sight. It was also touching to see a security person escorting Lachner, already in plain clothes, back onto the ice so he could share in the once-in-a-lifetime moment with his teammates. He, too, was in tears. My impression was that he was feeling shame for being booted and missing the near-miraculous ending. Dude. You deserved to be back out there. You were a gigantic reason why your hockey buddies can now call themselves champs. Another huge reason: Brent Schwarz! His performance in net was stellar as he spread his chest and waved his glove to block an unrelenting gauntlet of uncontested shots. Schwarz had 32 saves. "He stole it for us," was the first comment that came out of Coach Fillo's mouth in our post-game talk. Moments later, Fillo would also recognize that he now had "27 sons." All... Champions.                          

  
Lewis-Palmer (17-3-3)       0 1 1 1    3 
Ralston Valley (18-4-1)      0 1 1 0    2

LPR: Joshua Cronk (4:43, P2 - Kyle Lee, Justin Brame), Brandon Roseboro (13:51, P3 - Austin Williams), Kyle Lee (9:21, OT - unassisted)
RVM: Mitch Pijanowski (5:03, P2 - Dean McGaughey), Kyle Bennett (4:11, P3, power play - Mike Pijanowski)


Individual stats may be unofficial. Feedback via e-mail to: contactus@ispn.tv or martycesario@hotmail.com. Search "CET Sports" on Facebook for pics.