Climbing the mountain

Walking into the rink last night, I was thinking about what kind of story I was going to write.

Was I going to write a story that was going to be negative if Timon failed to beat St. Joe’s? Or was it going to be a positive spin?

Then the game started and five minutes in St. Joe’s was up 2-0. I thought to myself “hey this one is going to be easy to write.” But, then something happened.

The Tigers showed some of that South Buffalo fight as they clawed their way back into the contest and gave St. Joe’s everything they could handle for a full 45 minutes.

“I felt that everyone out their was giving it their all,” stated Timon Captain Justin LaRusch. “There was no let up today and the full 45 was full of intensity.”

You can use any cliché you want, but for 45 minutes Timon went toe-to-toe with St. Joe’s and even though the score said they lost many believe they won the game.

And make no mistake about it; St. Joe’s doesn’t want to see them again in the playoffs.

But, it didn’t start out great for Timon as they dug themselves a hole going down 2-0 early in the first. Both goals were off of miscues in their own zone.

Instead of getting down on themselves, like they have in the past, Timon used the early deficit as motivation – as the two early goals seemed to fire the team up.

“I think this time it fired everyone up,” said LaRusch. “It just got everybody going.”

After the Tigers survived the first five minutes of the game, they were able to settle down and play their game – which is to be physical.

At times the game resembled the playoff game from a year ago where Timon just kept on hitting everything that moved.

And after a period of this it seemed St. Joe’s wanted no part of it as they were giving the puck away in their own zone time after time.

“It’s a playoff anytime we play a Catholic school,” stated LaRusch. “It’s all preparation for what is going to happen at the end of the season, so it feels good.”

Timon finally got on the board late in the first when Brian Sullivan made a nice play on the wall keeping the puck in the zone. He was able to control the puck and then fire it on net where Mike Lang tipped it home.

The Tigers would tie the game midway through the second, as LaRusch would not be denied on the doorstep.

After the original save, LaRusch stayed with the play and fired the puck home past the sprawling St. Joe’s goaltender.

However, St. Joe’s would answer back just over a minute later when freshman Dimitrios Gogos fired the puck past Kevin Meyers.

But, it was Meyers who kept Timon in the game as he came up big all night – including making a huge pad save on a breakaway midway through the second.

Timon kept pounding the St. Joe’s defense and the hard work finally paid off very late in the third as Justin Nelson beat the goaltender to tie the game with 56 seconds to go on the power play.

With everybody thinking the game was going to overtime St. Joe’s had other ideas and just 14 seconds after Timon had tied the game the Marauders took the lead for good.

St. Joe’s won the center ice faceoff and Kyle Kelschenbach broke through the defense and beat Oscar with a shot low to win the game.

Despite the loss, the Tigers know they match up well with St. Joe’s and they want a shot at all the Catholic teams come playoff time.

“I feel it is much more of team play (when we play these teams),” stated LaRusch. “We just have to go out there and keep hitting and keep bringing the intensity.”

The Tigers hope this performance will lead to a run as the playoffs start closing in.

“I feel we just have to keep working up the mountain right now,” said LaRusch. “Soon enough we are going to start peeking and be at the top of our game.”

News and notes: It was the final home game of the year for Timon at Caz Ice Rink. On the season, Timon went 0-4. The student body came out in full force to support the Tigers. They were loud as always and it seemed to fire the boys up.

It was one of the more hard-hitting games I have seen this year in the league. The intensity was brought to an entirely new level.

When the Tigers take on Sweet Home Saturday they will be doing it with a full lineup – something they haven’t experienced that much this season.

Joe Aldrich will be back in on Saturday after missing the last two.

Wednesday is team picture day for the boys. The picture will be taking before practice at 3:15 p.m.

Timon looks to break the losing streak as they get back into action at 1 p.m. Saturday when they take on Sweet Home at the Amherst Pepsi Center.

In this week’s print edition of the South Buffalo Metro there will be a feature story on Timon defenseman Sam Connors. Connors will be featured on the front page.

Boxscore

St. Joe’s 2-1-1-4

Timon 1-1-1-3

Mike Lang (1), Justin LaRusch (1), Justin Nelson (1).

Kevin Meyers (23 shots, 19 saves)