| Carroll, Richland seek Section
4 championship
03/29/2001
By Rob Harman / Special Contributor to The
Dallas Morning News
Once his Southlake Carroll hockey team took care of
business with a 4-2 victory over Keller, Dragons coach Laddy
Tresl went about scouting for tonight's Section 4 championship
game.
Would it be Richland, the team that put the only loss on
Southlake's 17-1-1 record in Week 2 of the season more than
five months ago?
Or would it be Hurst L.D. Bell, the team that recorded the
other blemish, a 0-0 tie in February?
"We can get a little payback, no matter who we play," Tresl
said.
Pretty much as expected, Richland defeated Bell, 6-1, and
will meet Southlake for the Section 4 championship at 7:30
p.m. Thursday at the Euless Dr Pepper StarCenter.
The winner will get an automatic bid to the state
tournament April 6-7 in Austin. It also advances to next
week's Southwestern Bell Metroplex High School Hockey League
"city" playoff against the other three section winners.
Some observers believe Richland is starting to look like
the Grapevine of last year. Grapevine surprised the league by
sweeping the local playoffs and winning the state
championship. However, it was Southlake that Grapevine beat in
the section finals a year ago, and the Dragons don't plan to
let it happen again.
"We've been ready for this game since we were knocked out
last year," top Southlake scorer Danny Force said.
"We've talked about it," Tresl added about the loss to
Grapevine. "A lot of [players] from this team played last
year. They know how important this game is. This is the most
important game for us."
Just as it is for Richland, one of the league's surprise
teams. It has quadrupled its win total from a year ago. The
Rebels were 3-14-1 in 2000. They will take a 12-3-4 record
into the title game. Southlake's 17-1-1 is tied for the
league's best.
Richland beat Southlake, 3-1, on Oct. 19 but lost to the
Dragons, 2-0, in the Jan. 11 rematch.
"We have the utmost respect for them, but we're not afraid
of them," Richland coach Bill Stabler said. "The boys will be
ready to go."
Both finalists will go from playing rough-and-tumble
opponents in the semifinals to a purer form of hockey in the
finals.
Stabler stresses defense with Tanner Thomas and Nathan
Page, but the Rebels also have talented skaters up front in
Dan Rombach, Josh Alpuerto and Ryan Boles.
"Richland has a little more speed and offensive skills
[than Bell]," Tresl said. "We will have to adjust to their
style."
Southlake has arguably the league's best goalie in B.J.
Cotton, but it also has plenty of puck control and scoring
balance with Force, Brian Jacobowski, Eric Anderson, Geoff
Eames and Mike Casey.
The Dragons are missing five players to injury or
suspension, but 10 of their 15 skaters turned in either a goal
or an assist Tuesday against Keller.
"Everyone is contributing," Force said. "That's what we
need."
Both teams took advantage of power plays to score most of
their goals in the semifinals. Preventing power plays could be
Richland's key in the final, Stabler said.
"We need to play them five-on-five," Stabler said. "If we
can, we've got a good chance. We can't do what Keller did.
[The Dragons] are too strong on the power play."
Both teams took control late in their semifinal wins after
taking precarious 2-1 leads into the third period.
"Our kids deserved an 'A' for discipline," Tresl said.
"That's what happens in the playoffs. The team who handles the
pressure best usually wins."
Eames stick-handled through the Keller defense to score a
power-play goal, and Jeff Luther scored on a slap shot off a
Force pass from behind the net to give Carroll a 4-1 lead
midway through the final period.
Rombach scored a short-handed goal 58 seconds into a
four-goal final period for Richland.
"I thought we played a fabulous first period," Stabler
said. "We lost the momentum in the second period, but [goalie
Jason] Merrell kept us in it until we got the momentum back in
the third period."
Rob Harman is a Dallas-area free-lance writer.
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